Love Goes

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sam Smith delayed, reworked, and retitled their third album, originally planned for release in May 2020. Love Goes landed that October, and in somewhat anticlimactic fashion appends as bonus tracks most of the lead-up singles, spanning a period of well over two years, careening from the free and easy disco-house of "Promises" to the muddled arena pop of "I'm Ready." Another throw-in is the intended title track. Relegated as it is, "To Die For" -- a gentle piano ballad with Smith longing for idyllic companionship as they gaze at their "solo shadow on a sidewalk" -- fits with the album proper, drawn from the singer's first real-life heartbreak. The connection Smith makes with it and the surrounding material here doesn't sound any tighter than it did on In the Lonely Hour or The Thrill of It All, but that's less a criticism than a credit to them as a consistent performer. Smith previously had no trouble expressing romantic torment, and that continues throughout the reliably low-spirited and highly-expressive Love Goes. One divergence from the previous albums is in the way Smith handles separation, almost bursting with regret on the lean "Forgive Myself," reminiscing with fondness on "For the Lover That I Lost," and extending benevolent acceptance in the pulsing and swirling "Another One," containing one of their most nuanced and appealing vocals. Smith elsewhere romanticizes recklessness in the a cappella opener "Young" and the doubly wistful send-off "Kids Again," but contrary to those visions of cutting loose, there's little evident taking of risks from a creative standpoint. Made with staunch collaborators Jimmy Napes, Stargate, and Disclosure's Guy Lawrence, and a mix of other high-profile songwriters and producers expected to deliver hits, the album is all tightly hemmed and neatly pressed. The faintly cosmopolitan dance-pop grooves and finely measured ballads offer few unexpected turns. They're set apart more by a lack of gospel and soul, consequently rendering Love Goes plain by Smith's standard -- unfortunate for an artist whose instrument is anything but that.