Sam Smith’s Love is a Stillness: The Beauty of Simplicty

Sam Smith has had a wild career and he has only just started. He broke on the scene in 2012, sang a Bond track, and put out one of the sexiest global hits in Unholy. The last time I saw Smith perform he was doing Unholy dressed as the devil with a top hat in red latex with Kim Petras. The question I had was, “Where does he go from here?” After that performance, I wasn’t sure if he could push pop music much further and feared that he would fade away. I was wrong. The move was to strip everything back and showcase what made him the vastly talented artist he became. Smith’s Love is a Stillness shows that he has a lot left.

Listening to Love is Stillness is like discovering Unholy‘s opposite twin who reads books to children at libraries and volunteers at the local animal shelter. The lusty pop opulence of Unholy is stripped back to music’s bare essentials; a lone piano played with raw emotional power. You can hear the strain of the pedals on the wire as Smith plays a simple arrangement reminiscent of a youth choir. The only piercing note comes from whistling at the end of the track. This track excels in its simplicity and raw one take energy. This unadulterated piano focus gives the track a grounded warmth, which is vastly different from his clubbing acrobatics on his previous record.

The vocal on this track is transcendent. Smith is front and centre in the mix with a warm, soulful and enveloping sound that wraps you up in gospel comfort. There is not much to the song thematically, but it simultaneously speaks multitudes. Where Unholy was about insatiable lust, Love is a Stillness speaks to the singular healing power of love. No frills. No devils in red latex. The beautiful simplicity and strength of love to heal us, forgive us and lift us up when we find ourselves at our lowest points. Smith’s vocal gives these universal themes a personal and vulernable tone. You feel like he is sharing a piece of himself, yet it speaks to something also deep inside of you.

This track’s simplicity is its strength. Much like a dish with only a couple ingredients, when it is delivered perfectly it is unlike anything you have ever experienced. If I told you Sam Smith released a piano track that was under 2 minutes, you would think it is some demo that he is going to tack on to some deluxe record. Quite the contrary, Love is a Stillness is a track that contains the entirety of the human condition. This is some of Smith’s best work. You feel like Smith is unearthing something about love that you have never thought of before and you are richer for the journey. In short, this track embodies what makes music a necessity for a full life.

Listen to Love is a Stillness