Fans eagerly anticipating Sam Smith’s third studio album will have to wait a little while longer.
On March 30, Sam announced on social media that they (Sam’s preferred pronoun) were pushing back the release date as well as renaming their album in light of the coronavirus crisis around the globe.
The album was originally titled To Die For, and was due out on June 5. The new name and release date are yet to be confirmed.
“To my wonderful fans, firstly I want to send love and strength to everyone who has been affected by this situation. I hope you are all alright during this incredibly weird, upsetting and unprecedented time,” Sam’s post began. “I have done a lot of thinking the last few weeks and feel that the title of my album and imminent release doesn’t feel right, so I have come to the decision to continue working on the album and make some important changes and additions.”
“I will be renaming my album and pushing back the release date – both of which are to be confirmed at this time,” they continued. “Don’t worry though, there will be an album this year, I promise! But until then I am still going to bring out some new music over the new few months, which I’m incredibly excited about.”
“Thank you for always being by my side and for your understanding and patience,” they concluded. “I always want to right by you. Always.”
During an interview on Zoe Ball’s BBC Radio 2 show, Sam opened up about why they made the decision to implement the changes.
“My album had the word ‘die’ in the title, which I just felt really uncomfortable with, with what’s happening (coronavirus) and it’s so important for me to be sensitive to my fans and to people listening to my music,” they told the host. “This has been a really sad and awful time for us, so I’ve changed the album title, I’m going to change the album cover.”
“When I know everyone’s safe and everyone’s good, then I can think about releasing the album,” they continued.
In another interview, Sam FaceTimed Zane Lowe, where they opened up about possibly having contracted the coronavirus before stricter, more serious guidelines on self-isolation were implemented in the U.K.
“I didn’t get tested but I know I have it. I’m just going to assume that I did because everything I’ve read completely pointed to that. So yeah, I think I definitely had it,” they told Zane, via People
Their sister started showing the same symptoms as well, which led both siblings to self-isolate for three weeks in order to protect their family.
“I’ve got an older Nan, so we didn’t want to risk anything,” Sam explained.
Having gotten sick early on in the outbreak, Sam says they were already on the mend when lockdowns started happening in many parts of the U.K. “As everyone was kind of really on lockdown, that’s when I got over it, luckily.”
Sam is feeling better now and back to working on their music, saying, “I started writing and it’s a whole different vibe. It’s amazing. It’s great.”
And we’ve got more music news from across the pond.
With One Direction’s 10th year anniversary coming up, rumor mills have been going into overdrive with speculations of Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik getting the band back together.
Earlier this month, he told The Sun, “We’ve got a ten-year anniversary coming up so we’ve all been speaking together a lot over the last few weeks which has been really nice. At the moment I’m not sure what I’m allowed to say. There’s a number of different things that we are all working on to try and make happen and people are forwarding emails around.”
The hashtag #OneDirectionReunion also started trending on Twitter when fans noticed that Harry, Liam, Niall and Louis all re-followed Zayn on the platform.
Further online activities, including One Direction website getting reactivated and all five 1D albums are back on Apple Music, are fueling the reunion rumors even more.
Apparently, Liam got into a bit of trouble with his former bandmates for saying too much too soon.
“I can’t say too much it was actually Louis told me off for revealing a bit about our plans the other day. So I had a group telling off on the group chat,” Liam revealed in a recent Instagram Live with DJ Alesso, whom he collaborated with in their new single “Midnight,” per The Sun.
Looks like he continues to keep in touch with his pals one-on-one while quarantining, but they’ve yet to chat as a group.
“I did speak to Niall again on FaceTime today though and he was outside on his balcony sunbathing and whatever,” he said.
“Most of us are in London. We’ve been trying to arrange the first group FaceTime at the moment,” Liam continued.
But one thing he said may have hinted about Zayn’s involvement in the reunion: He said Alesso could “come and fill in for Zayn, join the band.”
So far, no official statements on the reunion have been made at this time. Keep it here for updates!
