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Soul crooner Sam Smith has unveiled his emotive version of the Amy Winehouse track 'Love is a Losing Game'.
Smith chose Annie Mac’s BBC Radio One show to debut his cover version of Winehouse’s wrenching ode to a broken relationship, which is taken from her classic Back to Black album.
The star, whose recent Bond theme was met with a mixed reaction, is obviously unafraid to tackle the much revered canon of the late Winehouse.
He told Mac. “I saw the film recently and, sometimes, people forget my age,” he told Annie. “I was 11 years old when Frank came out […] and that album has really shaped me as an artist and my views on music and my relationship with music, lyrically. Seeing that film brought me back to that moment of being 11 years old — her rawness on such beautiful chords, on such expensive chords.”
Rawness is something that Smith lacks, and not least the kind of quiet gravitas that Winehouse brought to her music. What we’re left with is a rather bland and tawdry version of what was a devastating love song.
It’s not the first time Smith has covered Winehouse. He chose to dedicate a version of ‘Tears Dry on Their Own’ to Winehouse at this years Lollapalooza festival.
The ‘Love is a Losing Game’ cover will appear on the deluxe reissue of Smith’s In the Lonely Hour, which is released today.
Listen to Smith’s cover below
