Sam Smith - Hazel Eyes launches with UK residencies and German chart impact

Sam Smith enters a new phase of their pop career with the release of the studio album Hazel Eyes on August 21, 2026 via Capitol Records. According to a detailed album announcement and single rollout covered by Variety and uDiscoverMusic, the campaign is built around multiple 2026 singles and a late-summer run of residencies in Mexico City and the United Kingdom.

Hazel Eyes lands with new singles

The core of Sam Smith’s 2026 activity is Hazel Eyes, described by Variety as the artist’s fifth studio album and scheduled for release on August 21, 2026 through Capitol Records in physical and digital formats worldwide. The announcement was paired with the single My Guy, introduced with an official video and positioned as one of the lead tracks from the record.Variety album announcement

Ahead of the album, Smith has released a sequence of singles that sketch out the sound of Hazel Eyes. uDiscoverMusic reports that When He's Gone arrived in early August 2026 as the third single from the album, following earlier tracks such as Oh Mother, a collaboration with the TwoCity Chorus, and My Guy, each highlighting different aspects of Smith’s songwriting.uDiscoverMusic single report

What the charts say on Monday

For the German market, the rollout of Hazel Eyes is already visible in local charts. A recent analysis of German pop single listings notes that the single My Guy sits at position 12, while When He's Gone holds position 30 in a Top 30 Pop Single Charts rundown dated August 17, 2026, signaling pre-album traction in Germany even before the full record hits stores.German chart context

That early momentum builds on an established chart history in the country. The official German album charts list Gloria, Smith’s 2023 studio album, as having entered the Offizielle Deutsche Charts on February 3, 2023 and peaking at number 6 with a four-week run, giving Smith a recent Top 10 album in Germany. Earlier work such as In the Lonely Hour has reached at least platinum status in Germany according to BVMI certification data, meaning 200,000 or more units sold, and singles like Stay With Me have accumulated multiple gold awards. That backdrop makes the current mid-chart positions for the new singles a plausible springboard for another strong album entry.

Upcoming residencies in Mexico City and the UK

Beyond charts and releases, Sam Smith is extending their live activity into a series of 2026 residencies. A concert listing overview shows a block of dates under the banner Sam Smith - To Be Free in Mexico, including a performance in Guadalajara on August 14, 2026 and multiple nights at Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City in mid to late August. These shows cluster around the global release window of Hazel Eyes, offering fans in Latin America a first chance to hear album material live while the record is new.

From early September 2026, Smith’s attention shifts to the United Kingdom. The official Sam Smith site and UK ticket pages list two shows at Manchester’s Albert Hall on September 3 and 4, followed by an extended residency at London’s Coliseum with nine concerts between September 8 and September 19, 2026. NME has highlighted this run as a dedicated 2026 To Be Free residency, underlining that London and Manchester will see the artist in comparatively intimate theater and hall settings rather than the larger arenas used for the earlier Gloria tour.NME residency announcement

Sam Smith’s German footprint and certifications

Germany remains a significant territory in Sam Smith’s career, even if the current Hazel Eyes campaign has not yet announced new German concert dates. The Offizielle Deutsche Charts list Gloria as a Top 10 album, peaking at number 6 in February 2023, which places Smith alongside other international pop acts with strong album sales and streams in the country. That showing followed earlier chart runs for albums such as In the Lonely Hour, which not only charted but later earned a platinum certification from BVMI.

The certification side adds another layer to this German footprint. BVMI data for Sam Smith’s catalog indicate that In the Lonely Hour has surpassed the 200,000-unit threshold required for platinum in Germany, and singles such as Stay With Me and I’m Not The Only One have collected multiple gold awards. This means that by 2026, Smith’s cumulative sales and streams in Germany run into several hundred thousand units across albums and singles, a context that frames the current mid-chart positions of My Guy and When He’s Gone as part of a longer-term relationship with German listeners rather than a one-off spike.

The musical core of Hazel Eyes

Musically, Hazel Eyes extends the blend of soulful vocals and contemporary pop production that has defined Sam Smith’s work since In the Lonely Hour. Early reports describe My Guy as a mid-tempo pop track that leans into conversational lyrics and a warm, rhythm-driven arrangement. Oh Mother, with its feature from the TwoCity Chorus, adds choral call-and-response textures, nodding to gospel and choral traditions while staying within a mainstream pop framework.

When He’s Gone has been presented as a more stripped-back acoustic piece, with uDiscoverMusic emphasizing its intimate, soulful character and positioning it as a third preview of the album. Together, these singles suggest that Hazel Eyes combines upbeat, radio-minded productions with quieter, reflective songs, continuing a pattern visible on previous records such as Gloria, which balanced club-leaning tracks like Unholy and How Do You Sleep? with ballads.

What’s next for Sam Smith

In the immediate future, the key date for Sam Smith is August 21, 2026, when Hazel Eyes is released globally and the Mexico City live dates begin to align with the album’s arrival. After that, the focus shifts to September 2026, with the Manchester and London residencies offering a concentrated run of performances where the new material can be developed on stage for UK audiences. No additional German dates are officially confirmed for this cycle at the time of writing, so the primary upcoming milestones revolve around the album release and the residencies in Mexico and the UK.

This article was generated with AI assistance and checked by the editorial team. Sources are linked in the text. Dates, chart positions and certifications may change at short notice; correction notes can be sent via the editorial contact on our imprint/contact page.