Sam Smith performs in Radio 2 Piano Room and next artist revealed

BBC Radio 2’s Piano Room returned to the Ken Bruce show today with a set from Sam Smith.

Performing from the BBC’s Maida Vale Studios, Sam sang Stay With Me, Unholy – joined by Kim Petras, and a cover of Des’ree’s I’m Kissing You.

Ken asked if winning Grammys, Brits, Golden Globes, and an Oscar has an effect on the attitude to making music?

“I think when I got those awards originally in the first month afterwards you have a moment when you’re like, ‘oh wow, am I a bigshot now?’ And then you slowly realise that you’re not,” Sam answered. “And it has changed absolutely nothing. If anything, at first, it added pressure, so I had to get myself out of the pressure vault at points.

“But I’m feeling good now. I feel really settled. I’ve got a dog and I’m just loving making music for the sake of making music again. {…} Picking up some dog poo is the greatest grounding technique!”

Speaking about the new album Gloria, the singer said that the biggest tasks after the first three albums, was to create one that was full of joy, expressing happiness and joy, and hope.

“That was a really scary task for me musically, so I really set myself that challenge because that’s how I was feeling at the time, I was feeling happy and I still am. And I really wanted to create a record that really started to talk about that inner voice that we all have inside of us that tells us to carry on and keep fighting and keep going. That’s what Gloria is,” Sam revealed.

Sam had a big success writing and performing Writing’s On the Wall, the theme to the Bond movie, Spectre. “I was only 2 years into my career, about 22 years old,” Sam recalled. “It was an opportunity that came to us that Barbara Broccoli and the Bond team were willing to talk to us.”

After Barbara and the team, and getting a copy of the script, the song was written: “It was the most incredible feeling,” said Sam, adding: “The best part of that experience for me was that my uncle Terry is a huge James Bond fan and has dedicated his whole life to James Bond. So it was just mad to be part of the legacy of Bond. And making my uncle proud in that way was really special!”

Ken Bruce also revealed today that his next Piano Room will be with Olly Murs on Thursday 8 December. Olly will be performing three tracks from Maida Vale, accompanied by The BBC Concert Orchestra.