Sam Smith: Hazel Eyes [CAPITOL]

Why you'll love it

Sam Smith's fifth album, the follow-up to Gloria, shaped by their To Be Free residency shows in Brooklyn and San Francisco. Critics praised its intimate sound and called it their most confident and fully realised work.

This edition

• 12 tracks
• Includes "Hazel Eyes," "Moondance" and "To Be Free"

About the album

Sam Smith spent the end of 2025 and early 2026 playing small rooms on purpose: 24 nights at the Warsaw in Brooklyn and 16 more at San Francisco's Castro Theatre, as part of a residency called To Be Free, with guests including Ed Sheeran, Norah Jones, Brandi Carlile and Hozier. Hazel Eyes, which arrived in August 2026, has the closeness of those shows.

After the bright pop of Gloria, it pulls back toward gospel, blues, soul, folk and jazz, with Smith's voice front and centre. "Everlasting Love" opens, the title track and "Moondance" follow, and the record closes on "To Be Free," the residency's namesake. It is the sort of album you put on when you have decided, firmly, that you are staying in tonight.

Tracklist

Listen

Out August 21, 2026 on Capitol (cat# 8816703).