It’s all pretty standard balladry with soft piano twinkles and the occasionally oomph of hip-hop preset drums. Save for doo wop flourishes on “Midnight Train,” much of Side A is one well-placed absurdist joke away from being The Lonely Island parodies of Smith’s first album. It’s laudable that Smith knows his lane so well, but it’s frustrating how uninteresting he remains inside of it. He’s so fucking sad it’s causing him to spontaneously combust (“Burning”). He’s sad, so he’s leaving you before you can leave him (“Midnight Train”). He’s sad and claims he’s ready to move on (“One Last Song”). He’s sad and needs you to make the first move (“Say it First”). As such, the album’s first half is terminably homogenous. Every lover is either in the rear view or with one foot out the door. Smith, on wax, is the platonic ideal of the blue eyed soul Sadboi, someone for whom all relationships fit neatly into piles of nostalgic heartbreak and doomed romance.

The album opens with the serviceable lead single, “Too Good at Goodbyes,” which in this context is less a pop song than a statement of intent.

This album’s 10 tracks are effective for long drives in the rain lamenting the broken shards of one’s life, sure, but in growth terms, it’s a disappointment. On his sophomore release The Thrill of it All, Sam Smith continues ruthlessly down the path of his debut with variations on the same themes of heartbreak and sadness.

Sam smith the thrill of it all quotes