Culture 3 min read By Trevor Kendall
Sam Smith Wears Their Heart on Their Sleeve With the Lovestruck ‘Hazel Eyes’: Album Review
Sam Smith’s fourth album ‘Hazel Eyes’ trades their signature heartbreak ballads for a lovestruck, upbeat sound, marking a stylistic shift for the five-time Grammy winner.
Sam Smith has spent a dozen years turning heartbreak into multiplatinum success, but their fourth album finds the British singer exploring a far more joyful emotion. ‘Hazel Eyes’, out now, is a lovestruck collection that swaps the aching ballads of previous records for a brighter, more open-hearted sound — a deliberate pivot for an artist who has sold an estimated 65 million albums and amassed nearly 60 billion streams.
The album arrives after three multiplatinum records that largely stayed in the same musical lane, and Smith uses the new project to push beyond it. Across the tracklist, the singer leans into upbeat pop and tender confessionals that wear their affection on their sleeve. The title track, ‘Hazel Eyes’, anchors the record with a warm, devoted tone that stands in contrast to the melancholy that defined much of Smith’s earlier work.
Smith’s commercial pedigree is well established: five Grammys, a James Bond theme, and multiple No. 1 singles across global charts. But ‘Hazel Eyes’ signals a creative reset rather than a continuation of past formulas. The album’s production is lighter and more varied, and Smith’s vocals — always the centerpiece — are deployed with a newfound sense of playfulness and ease.
Critics have noted that the shift feels natural for an artist who has spent years evolving publicly, both in sound and identity. Smith came out as non-binary in 2019 and has since used their platform to advocate for LGBTQ visibility, and that authenticity carries into the music here. The songs feel personal without being insular, romantic without being saccharine.
While early reviews have been mixed on whether the upbeat direction fully lands across every track, there is broad agreement that ‘Hazel Eyes’ represents Smith’s most cohesive artistic statement in years. The album’s strongest moments come when Smith commits fully to the new mood, letting joy drive the songwriting rather than treating it as a brief detour between ballads.
For longtime listeners, the record offers a different side of an artist who built a career on vulnerability of the sorrowful kind. That vulnerability remains, but it is now aimed at love rather than loss. Whether ‘Hazel Eyes’ will match the commercial heights of Smith’s earlier albums remains to be seen, but it makes a convincing case that the singer is not content to repeat themselves.
The album is available now across streaming platforms and on physical formats. Smith has not yet announced a full tour in support of the record, but the release is expected to be followed by live dates later this year.
