Love Goes Explained

Love Goes
Type:studio
Artist:Sam Smith
Cover:Sam Smith - Love Goes.png
Alt:Sam Smith lying down on the ground with their head resting on his left elbow and his right hand resting on his head. A tattoo of two men kissing is visible on his left arm.
Studio:Various (see recording locations)
Length:56:39
Label:Capitol
Producer:
Prev Title:The Thrill of It All
Prev Year:2017
Next Title:Love Goes: Live at Abbey Road Studios
Next Year:2021

Love Goes is the third studio album by English singer-songwriter Sam Smith. It was released on 30 October 2020 through Capitol Records. The album serves as a follow-up to Smith's second studio album The Thrill of It All (2017).[1] The album was originally planned to be titled To Die For and was due for release on 1 May 2020 but was delayed amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Smith also felt it was insensitive to use the word "die" due to what many people were going through. The album won a GLAAD Media Award in the Outstanding Music Artist category in April 2021.[2]

Background

In an interview with Zach Sang in October 2019, Smith confirmed that their third album would be released in 2020, and said it would feature "fewer ballads and plenty of poppier tracks" than their previous albums, which they called an "acoustic-y, soulful version of pop music". Smith went on to explain that the reception to their recent songs had "almost given me permission to kinda do what I've always dreamed of doing but I was always scared to do, which is pop music."[3] Smith described the album as their "first proper heartbreak album". In an interview with Apple Music's Zane Lowe, Smith said

Smith opened a pop-up store in Soho, London named after the album in February 2020 before the release of the single "To Die For".[4]

On 15 July 2021, the title track of the album was featured in the final episode of season 2 of the Netflix series Never Have I Ever.

Release and title

Originally planned to be titled To Die For, Smith's third album was due to be released on 1 May 2020, but was then pushed back to 5 June 2020.[5] By the end of March, Smith had confirmed that they had decided to delay the album till later in the year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.[6] On their social media account, they posted the following message: "I have done a lot of thinking the last few weeks and feel that the title of my album and imminent release doesn't feel right ... I have to come to the decision to continue working on the album and make some important changes and additions. I will be renaming the album and pushing back the release date—both of which are to be confirmed at this time".[1]

On Friday 17 April, Smith explained the reasons for changing the album during an interview with Zoe Ball on BBC Radio 2, stating that the "album had the word 'die' in the title, which I just felt really uncomfortable with, with what's happening [coronavirus] and it's so important for me to be sensitive to my fans and to people listening to my music. This has been a really sad and awful time for us, so I've changed the album title, I'm going to change the album cover."[7] The original cover art depicted Smith facing head-on with hands all around them. The hands on the album cover belong to Smith's "chosen family", Shea Diamond, Alok Menon, Jeff Hova, and Madison Phillips.[8] Upon postponing the album, Smith announced that a new cover art would be produced.[7]

Singles

Before its delay, Smith had released a number of singles in promotion of the album. "Promises" with Calvin Harris, "Fire on Fire" from the miniseries Watership Down, "Dancing with a Stranger" with Normani, "How Do You Sleep?", "I Feel Love" (Smith's cover of Donna Summer's 1977 single), "To Die For", and "I'm Ready" with Demi Lovato were all included on the album's original preorder, but are now all included as bonus tracks on the album, with the exception of "I Feel Love".[9] [10] [11] [12] [13]

"My Oasis" featuring Burna Boy was released as the lead single from the album on 30 July 2020, followed by the second single "Diamonds" on 18 September 2020. With the release of the album, the music video for "Kids Again" was released. It serves as the third single.

Critical reception

On Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, Love Goes received an average score of 64 based on 13 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Alexis Petridis's review for The Guardian described Love Goes as a "heartbreak album [that] plays it safe in hard times", noting that "Smith attempts to mix despair with euphoria on an album that delivers plenty of gloom but not much glitter". In terms of production, Petridis said the album did differ from Smith's previous work in that it swapped "retro-soul afflictions" for "misty pop-facing electronics, gentle tropical house shadings and Auto-Tuned backing vocals".[14] Robin Murray of Clash awarded the album six out of ten, calling it "a tale of heartbreak that could benefit from focus", noting that the track listing contained 17 songs and although there were some "exemplary pop moments", "it struggles to maintain momentum".[15] Similarly, The Independents Fiona Sturges referred to Love Goes as one of the "reasonable break-up albums you're likely to hear" and that you would "long for it to land a few punches". Elsewhere in the review, Sturges said "For the most part, the mood here is pensive, the ballads plentiful and the pace glacial, with little evidence of the wild abandon that the singer supposedly longs for. It's to Smith's credit, but also their undoing, that they are just too damned nice."[16] In her review for NME, Ilana Kaplan said that although Smith said the album would have "fewer ballads and plenty of poppier tracks", "at its core its Smith's knack for sap and soul – and their singular, chilling vocals – that forms the base of the record. When it comes to songwriting, Smith oscillates towards what they know."[17]

In writing a review for The New York Times, Jon Pareles was more complimentary, focussing on Smith's voice, calling it "a prodigious instrument: a pearly, androgynous croon, at once powerful and defenseless." Noting Smith's work with familiar collaborators (Jimmy Napes, Guy Lawrence and Stargate, amongst others), Pareles said "they built neatly structured, immediately legible pop tracks that open up arena-sized reverberations and sometimes beckon toward the dance floor. Many of Smith's new songs also stir in a strong new emotion: the resentment of a lover betrayed. The bile and the beat cut through the self-pity, though it wouldn’t be a Sam Smith album without a good wallow or five.".[18] Entertainment Weeklys Leah Greenblatt was also complimentary of the album, saying "the record remains rooted in a sort of open-vein vulnerability; the bruised, tender manifesto of a Kid Who Cares Too Much." She praised the album's ballads: "it's the prettily composed ballads — wounded, swooning, steeped in regret — that tend to lead", particularly picking out "For the Lover That I Lost" and "Breaking Hearts".[19]

Commercial performance

Love Goes debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200 chart, earning 41,000 album-equivalent units (including 18,000 copies as pure album sales) in its first week.[20] This became Smith's third US top-ten album.[20] The album's songs also accumulated a total of 29.66 million on-demand streams that week.[20] In May 2021, Universal Music UK has stated that Love Goes has reached 4.5 million in global units.[21]

Track listing

Notes

Personnel and credits

Credits adapted from Smith's official website.[22]

Recording locations

London, UK (recording – track 16)
(Nashville, Tennessee) (mastering – track 2–9, 11–16, 18–19)

Personnel

Artists

Musicians and producers

Technicians

Charts

Weekly charts

Weekly chart performance for Love Goes
Chart (2020)Peak
position
Japan Hot Albums (Billboard Japan)[23] 34
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[24] 50
Slovak Albums (ČNS IFPI)[25] 41
South Korean Albums (Gaon)[26] 85

Year-end charts

Chart (2020)! scope="col"
Position
UK Albums (OCC)[27] 59
Chart (2021)! scope="col"
Position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[28] 43
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[29] 37
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[30] 94
UK Albums (OCC)[31] 70
US Billboard 200[32] 191

Release history

Region! scope="col"
DateFormatVersionLabel
Various30 October 2020OriginalCapitol[33] [34]
JapanCDJapanese edition
United States13 November 2020LPTarget exclusive

Love Goes: Live at Abbey Road Studios

Love Goes: Live at Abbey Road Studios
Type:live
Artist:Sam Smith
Cover:Sam Smith - Love Goes Live at Abbey Road Studios.png
Released:19 March 2021
Venue:Abbey Road Studios (London, UK)
Length:48:47
Label:Capitol
Prev Title:Love Goes
Prev Year:2020
Next Title:Gloria
Next Year:2023

Love Goes: Live at Abbey Road Studios is the third live album by English singer-songwriter Sam Smith, and was released on 19 March 2021 by Capitol Records. The album was recorded at Abbey Road Studios and features song's from Smith's third album Love Goes (2020), as well as previous singles "Stay with Me" and "Lay Me Down" from debut album In the Lonely Hour (2014) and "Too Good at Goodbyes" from 2017's The Thrill of It All. For the live album, Smith also covered Cyndi Lauper's 1984 song "Time After Time".

In a weekly round-up of LGBT+/queer releases for Billboard that week, Stephen Daw said "regardless of what's being sung, Love Goes: Live at Abbey Road Studios shows off Smith's phenomenal vocal talent yet again."[35] Smith's cover of "Time After Time" was called "faithful" by Rolling Stones Jon Blistein.[36]

Love Goes: Live at Abbey Road Studios was released on Netflix on 22 May 2021.[37]

Release history

Region! scope="col"
DateFormatLabel
Various19 March 2021Capitol[39]
Japan[40]

Notes and References

  1. Sam Smith Pushes Back & Renames New Album . . Daw . Stephen . 30 March 2020 . 31 March 2020. 2 April 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200402174815/https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/pride/9346206/sam-smith-pushes-back-new-album-changes-name. live.
  2. Web site: 8 April 2021. Disclosure, Schitt's Creek, Sam Smith, Happiest Season, I May Destroy You, CHIKA, Veneno, Star Trek: Discovery, The Boys in the Band, The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo among award recipients at the 32nd Annual GLAAD Media Awards. 9 April 2021. GLAAD. en. https://web.archive.org/web/20210409151631/https://www.glaad.org/blog/32-glaad-media-awards-winners. 9 April 2021. live.
  3. Web site: Sam Smith confirms new pop-driven album is coming in 2020 . . Ramli . Sofiana . 10 October 2019 . 14 February 2020. 14 February 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200214203609/https://www.nme.com/news/music/sam-smith-confirms-new-album-coming-2020-2555740. live.
  4. Web site: Sam Smith is teasing the release of their new single To Die For . . White . Jack . 10 February 2020 . 13 February 2020. 4 February 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200204115743/https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/sam-smith-is-teasing-the-release-of-their-new-single-to-die-for__28567/. live.
  5. Web site: Sam Smith is changing the title of their new album because of the coronavirus . . Murphy . Lauren . April 2020 . 20 September 2020. 2 April 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200402001334/https://entertainment.ie/music/sam-smith-is-changing-the-title-of-their-new-album-because-of-the-coronavirus-447632/. live.
  6. Sam Smith to Change Album Title, Push Back Release Date Due to COVID-19 . . Shaffer . Claire . 30 March 2020 . 20 September 2020. 24 September 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200924160751/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/sam-smith-to-die-for-album-title-change-postponed-coronavirus-975092/. live.
  7. Web site: Sam Smith renames their new album, saying 'To Die For' felt uncomfortable during a pandemic . . Owoseje . Toyin . 17 April 2020 . 20 September 2020. 17 April 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200417182007/https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/17/entertainment/sam-smith-album-name-change-intl-scli-gbr/index.html. live.
  8. Web site: Sam Smith Postpones Album, Changes Name of Project . . Street . Mikelle . 13 February 2020 . 17 April 2020. 21 March 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200321034541/https://www.out.com/music/2020/2/13/sam-smith-announces-new-album-opens-wig-shop. live.
  9. Web site: Sam Smith, Demi Lovato go glam as they sing about love struggles in new single, 'I'm Ready' . Dinges . Gary . 17 April 2020 . 18 April 2020 . . 17 April 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417192952/https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/04/17/sam-smith-demi-lovatos-single-im-ready-emotional-empowering/5151583002/ . live.
  10. Sam Smith & Demi Lovato Conquer the Olympics in Powerful 'I'm Ready' Video . 16 April 2020 . Aniftos . Rania . 18 April 2020 . . 17 April 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417230518/https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/9360112/sam-smith-demi-lovato-im-ready-video . live.
  11. Web site: Sam Smith, Demi Lovato Created a Literal Drag Race in "I'm Ready" Music Video . Delago . Sara . 17 April 2020 . 18 April 2020 . . 20 April 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200420021517/https://www.teenvogue.com/story/sam-smith-demi-lovato-im-ready-music-video . live.
  12. Web site: 'I'm Ready' Review: Sam Smith and Demi Lovato create magic in Olympic-inspired beautifully infectious video . Lotter . Judah Charles . 16 April 2020 . 18 April 2020 . Meaww . 19 September 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200919030806/https://meaww.com/new-music-video-release-review-sam-smith-demi-lovato-im-ready-harmony-collaboration-scooter-braun . live.
  13. Web site: Sam Smith reveals how Demi Lovato made them feel 'femme, queer and confident' . PopBuzz . Whyte . Woodrow . 24 April 2020 . 20 September 2020. 2 May 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200502110354/https://www.popbuzz.com/exclusives/video/sam-smith-demi-lovato-new-collaboration/. live.
  14. Web site: Sam Smith: Love Goes review – heartbreak album plays it safe in hard times . . Petridis . Alexis . Alexis Petridis . 28 October 2020 . 28 October 2020 . 29 October 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201029125740/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/oct/29/sam-smith-love-goes-review . live.
  15. Web site: Sam Smith – Love Goes . . Murray . Robin . 28 October 2020 . 28 October 2020.
  16. Web site: Sam Smith review, Love Goes: A heart-on-sleeve breakup album that's just a little too nice . . Sturges . Fiona . 28 October 2020 . 28 October 2020.
  17. Web site: Sam Smith – 'Love Goes' review: pop balladeer leans even further into heartbreak than before . . Kaplan . Ilana . 28 October 2020 . 28 October 2020.
  18. Web site: Bile and the Beat Fight Heartbreak on Sam Smith's 'Love Goes' . Pareles . Jon . Jon Pareles . . 28 October 2020 . 28 October 2020 . 28 October 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201028180029/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/28/arts/music/sam-smith-love-goes-review.html . live.
  19. Sam Smith embraces pain on the lush 'Love Goes' . . Greenblatt . Leah . 28 October 2020 . 28 October 2020 . 31 October 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201031195311/https://ew.com/music/music-reviews/sam-smith-love-goes-album-review/ . live.
  20. Ariana Grande Claims Fifth No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart With 'Positions'. Billboard. Keith Caulfield. 8 November 2020. 9 November 2020. 8 November 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201108231716/https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/chart-beat/9480311/ariana-grande-positions-tops-billboard-200/. live.
  21. Web site: Universal's international marketing president Nickie Owen on streaming opportunities for UK artists . 24 May 2021. musicweek.com. en.
  22. Web site: Sam Smith – Love Goes – Credits . Samsmithworld.com . 17 November 2020 . 17 November 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201117231007/https://samsmithworld.com/lovegoescredits/ . live.
  23. Web site: Hot Albums 2020/11/09 付け . . 6 November 2020. 4 November 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201104100711/http://www.billboard-japan.com/charts/detail?a=hot_albums&year=2020&month=11&day=9. live.
  24. Web site: Japanese Albums Chart . . 6 November 2020. 4 November 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201104104856/https://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/w/2020-11-09/p/5/. live.
  25. Web site: SK – Albums – Top 100: Sam Smith Love Goes. ČNS IFPI. 19 November 2020.
  26. Web site: Gaon Album Chart – Week 45, 2020 . . ko . 13 November 2020. 17 November 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201117231025/http://gaonchart.co.kr/main/section/chart/album.gaon?nationGbn=T&serviceGbn=&targetTime=45&hitYear=2020&termGbn=week. live.
  27. Web site: End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 2020. Official Charts Company. 5 January 2021.
  28. Web site: ARIA Top 100 Albums for 2021. Australian Recording Industry Association. 13 January 2022.
  29. Web site: Top Selling Albums of 2021. Recorded Music NZ. 24 January 2022. 24 January 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220124051930/https://nztop40.co.nz/chart/albums?chart=5267. live.
  30. Web site: Top 100 Albums Annual 2021. Productores de Música de España. 20 January 2022.
  31. Web site: End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 2021. Official Charts Company. 6 January 2022.
  32. Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2021. Billboard. 3 December 2021.
  33. Web site: Love Goes by Sam Smith on Apple Music . Apple. 18 September 2020. 19 September 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200919193711/https://music.apple.com/us/album/love-goes/1531499128. live.
  34. Love Goes releases from Sam Smith music store:
    • Cassette: Web site: Love Goes Cassette . Sam Smith Official Store . 29 October 2020 . 1 November 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201101021202/https://store.samsmithworld.com/%2A/Music/Love-Goes-Cassette/6P9R0YQS000 . dead .
    • CD: Web site: Signed Love Goes CD . Sam Smith Official Store . 29 October 2020 . 1 November 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201101021324/https://store.samsmithworld.com/%2A/Music/Signed-Love-Goes-CD/6PA30YQS000 . live .
    • Vinyl: Web site: Love Goes Vinyl . Sam Smith Official Store . 29 October 2020 .
  35. Web site: First Out: New Music From Mykki Blanco, Sam Smith, Starrah & More . Billboard Pride . Billboard . Daw . Stephen . 19 March 2021 . 18 April 2021.
  36. Watch Sam Smith Cover Cyndi Lauper's 'Time After Time' at Abbey Road Studios . Blistein . Jon . Rolling Stone . 19 March 2021 . 18 April 2021.
  37. Web site: Sam Smith brings Love Goes: Live At Abbey Road Studios to Netflix . Front View Magazine . 26 May 2021 . 16 October 2021.
  38. Web site: Chart History - Sam Smith . Billboard . 3 April 2021 . 18 April 2021.
  39. Web site: Music - Sam Smith Official Store. samsmithworld.com. 18 March 2021.
  40. Web site: Sam Smith Discography. universal-music.co.jp. 18 March 2021.