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Posted by: andreweeyor Feb 19 2015, 06:38 PM

In response to the Ed one, I wondered what you thought about Sam. I personally am not a fan of him or his style, his music is bleak and miserable.

Posted by: ► ▲ N Feb 19 2015, 06:50 PM

I thought he was going to be one of those faceless vocalists that had a big hit or 2 as a featured artist then the solo career fails to take off. If only that was the case

Posted by: Casey Feb 19 2015, 07:02 PM

No, his voice is shrill and his songs are dull and basic. He was somewhat bearable as a faceless featured artist on dance and pop songs, but that's it. I still cannot get over how terrible "Money On My Mind" is, which is probably why his label didn't pursue an American release of it. He seems too sanctimonious and precocious too.

Posted by: Dobbo Feb 19 2015, 07:48 PM

More so than Ed. His voice is far more unique and something that doesn't come round too often. It's just a shame he's released some of the most dull, banal music I've ever heard.

Posted by: mr_aly Feb 19 2015, 07:50 PM

No.

His music hasn't lived up to the promise he showed on the Disclosure track, he still hasn't released 'Leave Your Lover' and he's even more boring than Emeli Sandé.

Posted by: Iz~ Feb 19 2015, 09:09 PM

I find this harder to answer than Ed Sheeran as I don't like particularly what he's turned into, but with this material, not a chance. It's dull and repetitive, and doesn't show nearly as much variance or artistic love for his music as Ed seems to show.

He has a great voice, which is why he initially got so much love, but I wish it was used for better things as the insipidity of it all is so prominent throughout that it strips what little meaning there was out of the songs and turns them into background filler that should be far less ubiquitous.

Posted by: Jonjo Feb 19 2015, 09:12 PM

Ella Eyre deserves the success more

Posted by: Chez Wombat Feb 19 2015, 09:19 PM

I adored his collaborations but with every new song he releases, I'm convinced he's trying to make it even more boring than the last, which is a shame as he has potential to be so much better with that voice. How a song like Stay With Me won TWO grammies is beyond me, it's so empty. I do feel that he was always destined for big things since his two collabs and then the Sound of... win along with a ridiculously huge push from everywhere and there's something quite unlikeable about his personality as well which makes me not respect him as much as Ed.

Posted by: Chez Wombat Feb 19 2015, 09:19 PM

oop

Posted by: Noahspike Feb 20 2015, 12:29 AM

I agree with all of this.

I've never been able to buy into him as everything about him since late 2013 has seemed so obviously orchestrated. The 'male Adele'-esque trajectory he's followed with all the milestones along the way; Sound Of.../Critics' Choice awards, big emotional ballad for album release and its subsequent ubiquity, SNL and the huge promo push he got in America, prominence at the VMAs, Grammy nominations and wins, the upcoming BRITs...it's all seemed incredibly contrived, like there's a solid strategy in place and boxes are being ticked rather than him achieving things more naturally and based primarily on merit. There's always been a distinct lack of substance to 'Stay With Me' and it's annoying to see it get such massive exposure and acclaim as his signature song, especially when he has significantly better material on the album. I also get the sense that he's very much got a public persona for interviews etc. and could be quite different behind the scenes - there's just something quite disingenuous about his personality in general.

So in short, no not really (though I do like a good few of his songs).

Posted by: Liаm Feb 20 2015, 12:49 AM

No, in short.

So dull, bland, uninspired... ANd I hate how he slags off XF etc. to seem all credible but he's happy to whore himself out on them for sales. I am just baffled a panel of people decided he should win FOUR Grammys over the likes of Sia, Taylor Swift and Hozier. I don't even think his voice is that good (on his album anyway), it's very whiny on balalds. I do love Latch and La La La but as it stands he kinda needs to do a Duffy next era.

Posted by: Red Blooded Man Feb 20 2015, 04:37 AM

Yes, he has a big voice and avoid the habit of other big-voice artists to keep yelling in every song.

As for his attitude, I appreciate his straight-talking style and unlike many other artists, what he said is not scripted. If you don't like what he said about gay dating and stuff, get a life.

Posted by: toxic_air Feb 20 2015, 05:27 AM

I think he has some extreme talent and a great voice. However, his music is not good enough to warrant the amount of success he has experienced. The best thing he's done is lay vocals on the Disclosure track. Perhaps if he were to release more music like that...

I do really like "I'm Not The Only One", though.

Posted by: Regina Feb 20 2015, 03:05 PM

He deserves to be slapped with a frozen tuna.

Posted by: ThePensmith Feb 26 2015, 09:33 AM

I loved 'La La La' that he was on before it got overplayed. Other than that, not a fan. And I get the distinct impression that what happened to Duffy on her second album will happen to him come album two.

That's the trouble with hitting a peak so early on in any artist's career. If you don't have the grounding and level headedness to keep your head above water, so to speak, when you take a dip in sales or popularity later on, it makes it difficult to get back to that same level of success.

Certain artists have done that, but only a small few. For all the hype I can see Sam ultimately being one of those artists used in a trickier round at a pub quiz come 2020.

Posted by: Sean. Feb 26 2015, 10:00 AM

Definitely - it does annoy me reading criticisms that he has written about a relationship etc when most of the industry do as well!

Posted by: torresgirl Feb 26 2015, 10:04 AM

Posted by: torresgirl Feb 26 2015, 10:05 AM

In total agreement with all of this especially the XF stuff!

Posted by: jark Feb 26 2015, 12:13 PM

Anyone deserves their success if a lot of people are buying their music, because evidently they're enjoying it on some level and you've created a product people want. This topic is absurd.

Posted by: Juliano Feb 26 2015, 12:45 PM

He has an incredible voice and songwriting skills... his voice fit into Latch and La La La very well (It only hit me the other day, how little people know that those songs were sung by him), they are both great songs, although his solo stuff is a bit more downbeat, they're still beautiful and well worth recognition, although I wasn't so keen on Money On My Mind.

Posted by: (Zach) Feb 27 2015, 12:29 AM

I don't know that I've actually made it all the way through one of his solo tracks aside from Money On My Mind. Too boring to keep my attention.

Posted by: Cody Slayberry Feb 27 2015, 12:44 AM

His voice does seem to fit more with dancey stuff, and I happen to like the remixes of his songs more than the originals themselves. But it's no reason to throw hate onto Sam Smith himself. The industry just seems to overplay certain stuff of his.

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

Posted by: harryflynn0908 Feb 27 2015, 01:08 AM

I don't like these posts about whether an artist deserves success, I mean I feel like some people are using it as a way of slating an act. Its not Sam Smith's fault he has success or Ed Sheeran fault this success has had happened. Whether you think there rubbish or not the fact is any person, artist or group deserve success. (within reason I wouldn't say people who have been in prison do ). I like most of his songs (apart from MOMM, that got old quick) so I can say I don't like some of his songs.

As Cody Slayberry said the industry seems to overplay his stuff really.

This is just my opinion and sorry for posting my view on the matter

Posted by: Riser Feb 27 2015, 04:03 AM

No need to apologize, that's the point of the thread!

Having recently listened to his album I'd say yes it's worthy of success. I just wish Sam was having success with different singles

Posted by: Cody Slayberry Feb 27 2015, 05:11 AM

*cough release Restart already cough*

Posted by: Iz~ Feb 27 2015, 02:32 PM

Okay, as far as people questioning the right to claim whether an artist has success goes, sure, everyone who has people buying their music is entitled to the success their fans want them to have. What my answer (and probably others answering) is getting at though is that... is this the sort of music that should be having the greatest success? On the scale he's having?

This is going to get subjective... but in terms of providing inspiration and quality to the musical landscape, no. Whether you like his music or not, most of his ballads are very similar sonically and they're tapping right into the corner of music that will sound nice to most people, in order to sell as much as possible. Textbook middle of the road stuff. It's successful because it's designed to be successful and there's something very off-putting about that, particularly coupled with the amount of time that it has remained incredibly successful. And just how many people who buy his stuff now will still be listening to it in 5 years?

And not to mention that this will instead of new musical acts trying to be the next <insert adventurous ground-breaking artist here>, they are more likely to try to be the next Sam Smith because it sells more. That's what I'm trying to get at. A better angle for these threads would be something like: 'Does X artist's success mean good things for the industry'?

Posted by: ┌ ╫ ┘ Feb 27 2015, 02:36 PM

iz did you see my piece on sam in my YTD, obv i totally agree with you.

focus grouped, mother-drawing warble

Posted by: Iz~ Feb 27 2015, 02:44 PM

Yeah I did, that was a great read, I won't deny that it may have influenced my thinking but I've been feeling this about him for many months now, and it's something I've been more and more convinced by every second he stays around in the music industry, especially with him sweeping the Grammys like he did.

Why should he be getting all this acclaim? There's no risk there. No ingenuity, it's just the same old shit that clogs up daytime radio for people who aren't big music fans to have something un-abrasive to fill their drivetime. And it feels more offensive because you can plainly see the gears whirring.

Posted by: ┌ ╫ ┘ Feb 27 2015, 02:52 PM

it's a very out-dated notion of what makes for 'real music'. in an age of streaming record labels have become more markedly more conservative and more adverse to taking anything that constitutes a risk. look at the scarcity of new releases in Q1 this year and it's a trend i foresee continuing. with such little money in the industry labels are going for any easy to listen to, mass market sound that is totally white, middle class and faux-emotional and people lap it up. i think it's easy to loose site of the fact that we are banded here together in this community called buzzjack because we are passionate about good quality music be that pop to indie to whatever but so much of the world is totally indifferent to music and hear the odd bit on say heart.fm. there will come a point of stagnation and then the industry is fucked over totally.

with a singer-songwriter record such as sam smith's debut you need to have lived a little and experienced an actual relationship to make it work and not come off half-baked and disingenuous. it's so very telling that sam has centred his record around 'one man's rejection'. i mean really, it's a basic event and one that you get over, to hash out an entire debut record around this pretext just shows the desperate grappling to garner some sort of weight and meaning to a collection of hollow tracks. is this the type of music sam listens to himself? i doubt it. this is why an artist moves towards more adult-contemporary material as their career evolves and they have actually lived somewhat and have something "meaningful" to sing about.

i think the final thing that tops it all off though is yes, sam smith has a remarkable voice but he is a total charisma vacuum and tbh lacks any real star quality or power. his live performances that i've caught have been non-events and he conveys no real sense of personality in interviews. he doesn't look one bit like a popstar either...

Posted by: MrIndependent Feb 27 2015, 03:37 PM

No.

La La La and particularly Latch are excellent produced songs which his voice (which I will get to) was well suited to. His solo material on the other hand is completely devoid of any creativity and artistry musically (in response to Ed, I can't say the same for him -- many of the compositions on x, + and his EPs are masterful and excellently produced), his lyrics repetitive and his style of songwriting generic and uninteresting. I would absolutely love to say that I think he has talent that I just can't seem to appreciate, but when he sings he sounds like he either vocalises through his nose, has a mouth full of shit or is being strangled whilst doing so. In the Lonely Hour is run of the mill and has as much personality as a cucumber, although few songs on it are powerful, the most obvious ones being I'm Not the Only One and Restart.

#sozsam

Posted by: Taylor Jago Feb 27 2015, 07:37 PM

Yes. Money On My Mind wasn't great, but Stay With Me, I'm Not The Only One and Like I Can were amazing. Lay Me Down is also good (but not very keen on the original).

Posted by: SweetCandy Feb 28 2015, 02:43 PM

No.
He was great with Disclosure, his other stuff is just so dull.

Posted by: generalissue Mar 2 2015, 04:30 PM

yes and no.

Great topic!!!

there are many artist on their way (Now, Now. My Starving Lion!) that WILL make it and that ALREADY deserve their success.


-Church-