Sam Smith New Single ‘Pray’ Inspired By Trip To Iraq [LISTEN]

Sam Smith has released the 2nd single Pray from his forthcoming sophomore album The Thrill Of It All.

Pray combines strong gospel influences with a hip hop beat, courtesy of Timbaland, who co-produced the song with Jimmy Napes

Smith told Billboard that “Pray” was inspired by a visit to 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. 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.