ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 8/8/2006
Posts: 42,086
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Sam Smith – Money on My Mind
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With a shrill chorus like that, it’s probably good dude doesn’t have money on his mind.
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It showcases Sam Smith’s sad shriek to slick effect, maybe even matching “La La La”. The problem is that “I don’t have money on my mind… I do it for the lols the love” is such a boring message that no amount of vocal ache can do anything for it. I suppose I could be grateful that he avoids the cluster**** potential of calling out those who apparently do have money on their mind, but it’s dull dull dull.
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“When I’m home I tend to close the door” strikes me as sound advice. “So sing with me” isn’t. No way, buddy — not with that mush-mouthed falsetto.
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Sam Smith’s voice has an uncanny resemblance to a Diplo synth. It still doesn’t make it good, or the lyrics.
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What a waste. He’s already charmed half the world with “Latch” and won the Sound Of poll. Why is he subscribing to the Jessie J Model of Breaking Stateside? He needs to team up with some more creative songwriters before it’s too late.
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SCORE: 4.11/10
Sam Smith – Stay With Me
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The song jogs on the spot for a bit and then it goes away. At its heart, a sentiment that Sam contemplates for a second before the toast pops out. He’s a grand voice but a wooden actor; there are other, better ways to tell this tale.
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Sam Smith says some rockist b.s., most of which you can guess, about “being honest” and singing from his soul, as though I care how hard he squints when the studio mic picks up the sonic transmissions of his vocal folds. But I’m most struck by this: “I think the world needs imperfection.” I mean, I think so too! Not that we have any choice! But Smith’s a hypocrite, because “Stay With Me” sounds hamstrung by Getting Everything Right — the nuances of his performance, the fealty to some Platonic form of “soul,” even the determination to screw up this particular relationship as little as possible. I’ll give him this: he sells the idea that he’s bad at one night stands.
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His Barry Gibb-level hysteria effective on the Disclosure collaboration “Latch,” it’s a menace now, whether leading the choir of frightened men and women through insincerity or sobbing solo through a moist Kleenex.
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With each new Sam Smith song we will keep on realizing that he’ll never again be as exciting as “Latch.”
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I don’t get the hype around this kid. Rick Astley had a better voice — and better songs. PS White people, especially white Brits, should not sing gospel. Or gospel-ish material. Ever.
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Like that one scene from Say Anything, except John Cusack rented out a choir to win over someone he made out with on a couch for like ten minutes.
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Lisa Loeb by Emeli Sande.
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Picking up where “Money On My Mind” left off, “Stay With Me” offers more of the same: predictable and “authentic” soul sound, exactly the type expected of him, with Smith bleating out enough soggy emotion to cover up the questionable lyrical content. Then, it was not worrying about the money money money. Now, it’s a narrator so clingy after a one night stand that his pleas come off more as emotional manipulation than an endearing call for love. But it’s wrapped up in gospel choirs and live drums, so it’s got to be good, right? The sanitization of Sam Smith continues apace.
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SCORE: 4.46/10
pfff I didn't know Samantha Smith was a crtiically PANNED darling 
The "Male" Jessie J 
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