Released: November 6, 2015

[Verse]
For you I was a flame
Love is a losing game
Five story fire as you came
Love is a losing game
One I wish I never played
Oh what a mess we made
And now the final frame
Love is a losing game
Played out by the band
Love is a losing hand
More than I could stand
Love is a losing hand
Self professed, profound
'Til the chips were down
Know you're a gambling man
Love is a losing hand
And though I batted blind
Love is a fate resigned
Memories mar my mind
Love is a fate resigned
Over futile odds
And laughed at by the gods
And now the final frame
Love is a losing game

Sam Smith

Sam Smith was born on 19th May 1992 and grew up in a rural village on the border of Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, the nearest town being Bishops Stortford. They’re the oldest of three siblings and are said to be close to their younger sisters. Their mother is a successful City of London trader and their father a stay-at-home dad who brought up the children.

Smith showed an early talent for singing, and their parents responded by arranging singing lessons from the age of eight with professional jazz singer and songwriter, Joanna Eden. At the early age of seventeen, they left school to pursue their dream, living in a small one-bed flat and working in a London pub, but ended up isolated and beset by loneliness.

Sam knew they were gay, they said, for as long as they could remember. They suffered bullying at school and were shocked to find that even in London—close to gay communities—they were subjected to homophobic attacks. These negative experiences, combined with an inherently emotional nature, inform their songwriting and delivery. The soulful, beautifully rich tone of their voice and the subject of the lyrics ‘speak’ to many people and have led to their success.