Sam Smith to change new album title in reaction to COVID-19

Sam Smith. Image: AFP/Jean-Baptise Lacroix via AFP Relaxnews

The British vocalist Sam Smith was supposed to release a third studio album, “To Die For”, on May 1.

Smith previewed the full-length with the lead single “To Die For”, which was dedicated to “all the lonely hearts out there on another Valentine’s Day.”

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“Releasing this song is going to be a wild one; I feel like it’s from one of the deepest parts of me. I wrote this with Jimmy Napes and Stargate in L.A. during a time of self-discovery and heartbreak,” Smith added at the time about the follow-up to 2017’s “The Thrill of It All”.

Earlier this week, Smith opened up on social media about the forthcoming album, telling fans that they felt it necessary to postpone the release date in the light of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

“I have done a lot of thinking the last few weeks and feel that the title of the album and imminent release doesn’t feel right, so I have come to the decision to continue working on the album and make some important changes and additions,” Smith wrote in a statement.

Smith still has to announce a new release date for the yet-untitled album, although assuring fans that “there will be an album this year,” as well as more music in the coming months.

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Smith is not the only artist altering release plans at a time when governments around the world are announcing rigorous measures to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While HAIM decided to postpone a third opus, Jessie Reyez unveiled her debut studio album, “Before Love Came to Kill Us,” as planned on March 27.

Earlier this month, the Canadian singer-songwriter told her fans that she was “conflicted” at the idea of dropping her LP amidst the global health crisis.

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“The whole premise of building this album was to make something that made people think about their mortality. Now it seems like a theme song to what’s happening irl. I’ve reached out for advice; the general consensus is ‘drop it.’ I put everything into this, I even pulled it down from the pre order to make changes because I needed to make sure I was passionate and proud of it, not the label, not my managers, me. So I did,” she explained on Instagram at the time. JB

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