Sophie Moody. AS Media. Research task

Sam Frederick Smith is a British singer/songwriter who was born in May 19th 1992 in London, England.

He focuses his music genre on pop, R&B and soul. His fame had come to light in October 2012 through Disclosures single ‘Latch’ which he had made a feature on, however not so long after this he had also placed number one in May 2013 for Naughty boy’s ‘La La La’, giving him his first single.

His first debut album is called: “In the lonely hour” and was released on 26th May 2014 by Capitol records.

Sam Smiths’ album ‘in the lonely hour’ was released on the 26th of May 2014. It includes

co-written songs from CeeLo Green, Plan B, Adele and Fraser T Smith; and was

released by Capitol Records.

The genre of the album is pop and soul and was produced by Jimmy Napes, Steve

Fitzmaurice and Fraser T smith. The singles which were included in the debut album are:

‘lay me down’, ‘money on my mind’, ‘stay with me’, and ‘I’m not the only one’.

These songs represent the meaning of his album which is solely about how the lack of

love (“unrequited love”) is painful, and how being heartbroken has affected his life as a 21

year old; overall being an emotional CD based on his life.

The title “In the lonely hour” presents the major feelings Sam Smith was experiencing throughout his many complicated relationships, some of which are interpreted as lonesome and vulnerable.

It overall expresses the meaning of the album using very few words, with the term ‘lonely’ being emphasized a lot.

The title is short and basic which could also represent the idea of him being neglected and left alone as it isn’t crowded with words.

He also refers to ‘the lonely hour’ as a general thing; almost as if it is common to him.

The image used for the album is of Sam

Smith sitting alone with a grayish black

background; this suggests he is surrounded

by sad thoughts and negative events which

have or is still occurring in his life.

The positioning of him (sitting alone,

thinking) implies that he is contemplative and

stressed- referring to the loneliness he is in

and the problems he is facing.

His clothes are black which may imply he is

feeling out of depth and the

darkness/negative things are becoming part

of him not just emotionally but physically.

This text is in Sans serif font type. This is a

bold, clear and contemporary looking type of

text.

This is used to emphasize the artists name

and promote him as he is new to the music

industry and would want more people to

recognise and remember his name.

The name of the album may be less of a

priority to him in this case therefore is

regular and not bold, hence less attention is

paid to it. (This may try to create the same

effect Sam Smith was going through during

his ‘loneliness’ as his lover didn’t give him

the attention he wanted.)

Capitol Records, LLC is a major American record label that is

part of the Capitol Music Group and is a wholly owned division of

Universal Music Group.

It was founded in 1942 and releases musical material from

people such as: Beach Boys, The Beatles, Katy Perry, Coldplay

and many other artists.

It involves multiple genres and is located in the Capitol Records

building in Los Angeles, California.

In 2012 the recorded music operations of EMI were sold to the

Universal Music Group and the world headquarters were

established in the Capitol Tower as part of the subsequent

reorganization of the Capitol Music Group. Steve Barnett,

previously an employee of Columbia Records, was recruited to

run the division.[9]

It was the first largest West Coast label and was developed by

three people: Buddy DeSylva, Glenn Wallichs and Johnny

Mercer.

http://www.capitolrecords.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Smith_%28singer%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Records