Learn English with "Stay With Me" by Sam Smith

Stay With Me was written in barely half an hour. Sam Smith sat down with songwriters James Napier (known as Jimmy Napes) and William Phillips (who records as Tourist) at a studio on Old Street in London, and the three simple piano chords Phillips was playing turned into a full song almost immediately. It became the lead single from Smith's debut album, In the Lonely Hour, released in the United States on 14 April 2014 and in the United Kingdom the following month.

The song turned Smith, then just 21, into a global star almost overnight. It reached number one on the UK Singles Chart and topped the charts in Canada and New Zealand, while peaking at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 — a remarkable result for a mostly acoustic soul ballad in a pop landscape dominated by up-tempo hits.

The famous 'gospel choir' heard behind the chorus isn't a choir at all: producer Steve Fitzmaurice had Smith record and layer his own voice roughly twenty times, stacking harmony on harmony until one singer sounded like a full congregation. A real gospel group, Enchorus, appears in the music video for the cameras, but every note on the actual record is Smith alone.

Success brought an unexpected complication: the chorus melody was widely compared to Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne's 1989 hit I Won't Back Down. Rather than fight it out in court, the two camps settled quietly — Petty and Lynne were given a 12.5% songwriting credit and a matching share of the royalties, a deal both sides later described as amicable, with Petty calling it simply 'one of those things.'

At the Grammy Awards in February 2015, Stay With Me helped Smith win four trophies in a single night: Song of the Year, Record of the Year (for the Darkchild remix), Best New Artist, and Best Pop Vocal Album for In the Lonely Hour — an extraordinary sweep for a debut record.

For English learners, it's a masterclass in emotional vulnerability delivered in clear, gently non-rhotic southern British English — a striking contrast to the louder, brasher accents and moods found elsewhere in this catalogue.

If you liked this, we recommend:

• Perfect — Ed Sheeran (British English too, but a hopeful wedding ballad instead of an anxious one-night confession)
• Levitating — Dua Lipa (British English again, but disco-pop energy instead of aching soul)
• Chandelier — Sia (a different accent, but the same theme of hiding pain behind bad decisions)
• Flowers — Miley Cyrus (American English and the opposite message: choosing yourself over needing someone)