Smith is an artist who is more tolerable on record than he is in the live arena. As a pop performer, that’s probably not the damning verdict that it might be for a guitar band with eyes on headlining festivals. Still, hearing a track like 'Money on my Mind' will still bug me more than it has any right to. You can’t feasibly claim to not have money on your mind when you’ve been fast-tracked to success by the wealth of those around you. Similarly, these special edition releases are about as much a cash cow as you can possibly conceive. Neither of these things are necessarily Sam Smith’s fault, but that doesn’t stop it from rendering the song to be basically null. Maybe we shouldn’t expect sincerity from our pop acts and I’m approaching this from completely the wrong angle if I’m to get anything from it. Later, 'Like I Can' is his strongest song from the original release. Its slow burn build is one of those moments that makes you question whether you’re just being the cynical music writer.

In the lonely hour drowning shadows