While Wonder Woman was busy showing off her comedic side on SNL, Sam Smith came through to perform two singles from his long-awaited new album The Thrill of It All. As usual, the singer crooned his way through heartbreaking ballads in a way that only Adele can match in a perfectly somber performance fit for rewatching while rain bounces off your windows and you spoon a pint of ice cream.
Related | Sam Smith Feels Love Lost In 'Too Good At Goodbyes' Video
He performed "Too Good at Goodbye" and "Pray," the newest single that he revealed is about his time spent in Iraq. "I spent five days in Mosul and came back embarrassed that I had known so little about the world and other people's lives," Smith said to Billboard. "I went back to that great Nina Simone quote, that it is important to speak about the times you live in. I hadn't done that; I'd just written a bunch of songs about love. So I wanted to write about how I'm now starting to open my eyes, at 25, to what is going on in the rest of the world, and that it's not always pretty."
Besides his SNL performances, Smith also made headlines by voicing his support for Australia's controversial marriage equality referendum, which has dominated the country's political debate since the mail-in ballot voting began. As the 25-year-old singer explained on Australia's Sunrise morning show, "We shouldn't be having this discussion in 2017, but it's great that it is happening." We could say the same for literally any bit of progress that slips through the headlines these days. Watch the SNL performances below.
