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Nov 10, 2017Whilst The Thrill of it All isn’t a complete departure from the artist we all know and love, it is clear that Smith is in a new phase of his career and is encompassing what it means to be a ‘soul’ singer.
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Q MagazineNov 22, 2017Both [HIM and Pray] perfectly distill the vision and boldness of this return. [Jan 2018, p.115]
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Nov 3, 2017Occasionally, Smith slips back into blandness. ... But like Adele’s ‘25’, this is an undeniably accomplished album that will, deservedly, shift a helluva lot of copies.
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Nov 3, 2017The Thrill of It All is stripped back to bare emotional bones, shot through with vulnerability and sensitivity, not so much wearing its heart on its sleeve as proffering an open vein.
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Nov 2, 2017Smith’s voice remains a thing of wonder throughout.
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Nov 2, 2017For all its familiar emotion, though, The Thrill of It All demonstrates Smith’s impressive growth as a vocalist and a songwriter. His singing has gotten deeper and richer.
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Nov 2, 2017Doubling down on his magnificent, gender-nonconforming voice while pushing his songcraft forward, Smith's second LP knights one of the mightiest, most expressive vocalists of his generation.
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Nov 2, 2017Much of it feels comfortable; at 25, Smith can still sing the hell out of the kind of love songs he could sing the hell out of when he was 20. But he’s grown, too, and The Thrill of It All is best when he stretches out of his comfort zone.
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Nov 2, 2017Turning heartache into Top 40 magic is Smith’s strength--he famously thanked an ex for his success during a Grammys speech--but only a few moments here truly resonate emotionally. One of those is the staggering standout “HIM.”
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Nov 10, 2017Additional songwriters and producers, including but not limited to Timbaland, Stargate, Emile Haynie, and Malay, contribute to one or two songs each, but this album maintains a consistency and intensity that places it slightly above the debut.
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Nov 2, 2017He's deepened his craft without exactly broadening it, which makes The Thrill of It All feel more like a fine-tuning than a bold new adventure.
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Nov 2, 2017There’s a certain power to The Thrill of It All, but it could have been a much more potent album if they’d laid off the polish just a little.
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Nov 7, 2017The Thrill of It All even features a few songs that leave heartbreak in the rear-view mirror. They aren’t all successful, but they’re interesting experiments for someone whose bread and butter is romantic dissatisfaction.
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Nov 3, 2017To date, the only real distinction of Smith’s music is his voice--and though he’s a talented singer, even that’s dulled by songs this predictably vanilla.
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Nov 6, 2017There is little drama here, just plenty of shorthand (sad pianos), a total absence of risk and, perhaps worst of all, no evidence of the deranged hedonism that catapulted Smith into a funk.
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Nov 13, 2017Nobody expected Smith to reinvent the wheel on his second album, but anything is better than limping along on a flat tyre.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 133 out of 190
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Mixed: 20 out of 190
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Negative: 37 out of 190
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Nov 3, 2017
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Nov 3, 2017
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Nov 6, 2017