Sam Smith puts out a single called When He's Gone

Sam Smith has released a new single, When He's Gone, ahead of fifth studio album Hazel Eyes, due August 21 via Capitol Records UK. It follows previously shared singles My Guy and Oh Mother.

The song is more vulnerable than Smith's earlier singles from the album, documenting a relationship in the midst of ending. Smith has said it was captured live without a click track, built to preserve what they called the feeling of a storm rumbling in the distance.

Smith will play residencies in Manchester, at the Albert Hall on September 3 and 4, and in London, at the London Coliseum between September 8 and 19, to support the record.

Smith has said the album is inspired by their engagement to fashion designer Christian Cowan, whom they have been dating for around three years; while they kept much of the relationship private, Smith has emphasised the importance of continuing to release openly queer love songs amid ongoing attacks on LGBTQ+ rights. Hazel Eyes lands in the release calendar among this month's pop arrivals.

Smith put the queerness of the album's love songs in explicitly political terms: "For me, there's something radical about being queer in this time, in this world and singing love songs," they said. "I'm not going to allow the poison that I read and that I see to affect my way of loving." Hazel Eyes follows 2023's Gloria, and its rollout has continued with a new video for another album track, "Constant Companion."