- 2024-08-23
-
MUSIC
-
Sam Smith & Hikaru Utada Team Up for New Version of “Stay With Me”
British singer-songwriter Sam Smith teamed up with American-Japanese singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada to release a new version of “Stay With Me” on August 22, 2024.
This marks the first collaboration between Sam Smith and Hikaru Utada.
The song was released to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the release of Sam Smith's debut album “In the Lonely Hour”.
The album “In The Lonely Hour - 10th Anniversary Edition” was released on August 2, 2024.
The original version of “Stay With Me” was released in 2024 from their debut album.
The track was written by James Napier, Sam Smith, William Phillips, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne
Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne later received co-writer credits due to the song's noted melodic similarity to Tom Petty's 1989 single “I Won't Back Down”.
The new version was produced by Jimmy Napes and Steve Fitzmaurice.- Hikaru Utada said of the song, “I am truly honored to have been involved in this memorable anniversary of 'Stay With Me.' This song has touched so many people’s hearts with its vulnerability and longing. Singing with Sam Smith’s original vocals and being recorded by the same engineer who recorded it was an experience that cannot be put into words. It felt as if a wormhole had opened and, for a brief moment, we were connected across time and space.”
They added, “Sam Smith has the kind of voice you hear once and you always remember. The first time I heard them was on the song ‘Latch,’ at a music festival I went to in London soon after I moved there from Tokyo. I looked up the song right away to find out who that voice belongs to. Then came In The Lonely Hour and the rest is history.” -
Background photo by Ronan Park - source : Apple Music
