Grab your tissues, I’m not kidding. Sam Smith is on a mission to wrench our hearts out of our sockets, with this devastatingly beautiful cover of the late Amy Winehouse ballad, “Love is a Losing Game” for Annie Mac’s BBC Radio 1 show. This song appeared on Winehouse’s legendary 2006 album, Back to Black, which is worth re-visiting if you haven’t in a while.
Despite being only 11 when Winehouse hit the scene, Smith claims that her music has inspired and shaped his own, admitting in the interview that’s included with the song below, “that lyric, ‘Love is a Losing Game’ is possibly one of the most relatable lyrics I’ve ever heard. I just pretended that all those things she’s talking about, happened to me.” He’s only 23 years old now, but this cover is mature and timeless, proving that Smith is a musician who will be around for the long haul.
Here’s the original song by Winehouse, so you can see the difference. Her version gives me goosebumps as I know the words are coming from a tortured soul… nothing will ever be quite like it.
Smith will soon be reissuing the deluxe version of his chart-topping 2014 debut album, In the Lonely Hour, which includes this Winehouse cover. In the meantime, check out his cover of Winehouse’s “Tears Dry on their Own.”
Did you enjoy Smith’s Winehouse cover? Which of her songs should he cover next? Reach out to me on Twitter (@trilbyberesford) or make a comment in the section below!
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HT: Billboard
IMAGE: Side Stage Collective, courtesy of Creative Commons, AmyWinehouseVEVO
