Sam Smith stays hot

Sam Smith is riding high. The only 22-year-old British singer, songwriter and certainly today’s most soulful balladeer has a lot to look forward to at the coming Grammy Awards which will be held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Feb. 8.

Sam is in a tie as one of the top nominees with six nods on his first time out with Grammy veterans Beyoncé and Pharrell Williams. Sam is up for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Pop Solo Performance for his single Stay With Me, then also for Album of the Year and Pop Vocal Album for In The Lonely Hour and Best New Artist of the Year against Iggy Azalea, Brandy Clark, Haim and Bastille. That same album has been in Billboard magazine’s list of Top 10 selling albums for 32 weeks now and it shows no sign of weakening sales.

Things are no different out here where Sam is also selling big. In fact, if John Legend’s All Of Me was the favorite love song of 2014, then Sam’s Stay With Me is the one by which lovers will always remember this year. There is only one difference. All Of Me is a happy love song by a successful lover, while Stay With Me is a total, painful resignation to a broken heart. It reminds me of Frank Sinatra’s I’m A Fool To Want You, the ultimate torch song of all time. And Pinoys, forever suckers for sad songs, done in a plaintive falsetto with sighing strings, just can’t help but love these all the time.

Sam seems to me the kind of song artist who is good in anything he sings. Note that we heard him first in collaborations with EDM artists like Latch by Disclosure and La La La by Naughty Boys. He serves up varied fare in his debut album In The Lonely Hour. He goes from upbeat pop in Money On My Mind then goes acoustic with Good Thing then soars high in total emo with the blockbuster-selling Stay With Me. This torchy mood is where Sam is really at his best. In fact, his trio of songs about unrequited love, Leave Your Lover, I’m Not The Only One and I’ve Told You Now are just the sounds to wallow in heartbreak with.

Also included in the album are Like I Can, Life Support, Not In That Way, Lay Me Down, Restart, Latch an acoustic version of the song with Disclosure, La La La but solo without Naughty Boys and Make It To Me.

Incidentally, Sam is set to join the British invasion of Manila that began a few weeks ago with the sold-out shows starring young Brit bands The 1975 and The Vamps. Sam is scheduled to perform at the Mall of Asia (MOA) Arena on May 10. That may seem like still a long way off but tickets are already selling fast. So grab yours now from SM Tickets. I do not think you would want to miss out on joining the huge Stay With Me sing-along that will surely happen at the MOA with Sam.

Here now are the Top 20 titles in Billboard magazine’s Top 200 albums hit list. Sam is, of course, in the list. American Beauty/ American Psycho by Fall Out Boy; 1989 by Taylor Swift; Title by Meghan Trainor; X by Ed Sheeran; B4.Da.$$ by Joey Bada$$; The Pinkprint by Nicky Minaj; What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World by The Decemberists; The Pale Emperor by Marilyn Manson; In The Lonely Hour by Sam Smith; Uptown Special by Mark Ronson.

V by Maroon 5; Grammy 2015 Nominees by Various Artists; Kidz Bop 27 by the Kidz Bop Kids; Tetsuo & Youth by Lupe Fiasco; Hozier by Hozier; 2014 Forest Hills Drive by J. Cole; Montevallo by Sam Hurst; No Cities To Love by Sleater-Kinney; Four by One Direction; and Vulnicura by Bjork.

And the Top 20 selling songs are: Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars; Thinking Out Loud by Fall Out Boy; Take Me To Church by Hozier; Blank Space by Taylor Swift; Shake It Off also by Taylor Swift; Sugar by Maroon 5; Lips Are Movin’ by Meghan Trainor; I’m Not The Only One by Sam Smith; Jealous by Nick Jonas; Centuries by Fall Out Boy.

All About That Bass by Meghan Trainor; Love Me Harder by Ariana Grande and The Weekend; I Don’t F**k With You by Big Sean feat. E-40; I Don’t Mind by Usher feat. Juicy J; The Heart Wants What It Wants by Selena Gomez; The Hanging Tree by James Newton Howard feat. Jennifer Lawrence; Only by Nicky Minaj; Animals by Maroon 5; 7/11 by Beyoncé; and Love Me Like You Do by Ellie Goulding.