Variety's Jem Aswad has reviewed Sam Smith's new album "Hazel Eyes", describing it as a lovestruck, largely acoustic reset that marks a stark departure from the singer's previous record, 2023's "Gloria". Where "Gloria" was musically wide-ranging but sonically consistent, built around big pop moments such as the global hit "Unholy", "Hazel Eyes" strips things back to slow tempos, minimal percussion and layered backing vocals, reflecting Smith's current preoccupation with being deeply in love. The shift matters because Smith, one of pop's most commercially successful and openly queer artists, is again reinventing their sound rather than repeating past success, and frames the record's candid queer love songs as especially significant given the current cultural climate.

Smith, who has sold an estimated 65 million albums and amassed nearly 60 billion streams over a 12-year career, wrote "Hazel Eyes" after relocating from England to New York, describing it as a "heartfelt ode" to their new home, though the hushed arrangements evoke intimacy rather than city bustle. Tracks previewed during recent Brooklyn and San Francisco residencies range from the drum machine-driven "Moondance" and gospel-tinged "Oh Mother" to the piano ballad "Love Is a Stillness" and the more sentimental "Sugar Rush", with the reviewer noting the songs are stylistically varied despite their uniformly low-key production.