Honestly Sam, please hurry up

COMMENTARY

Did you know that Sam Smith is singing the new James Bond theme song, Writing's On The Wall, for the upcoming 007 flick, Spectre?

As the first British male solo artist to record one since 1965, he should do a killer job of it.

Unfortunately for Smith fans, this tune isn't a prelude to a deluge of new material.

In a recent interview, the 23-year-old dilly-daillier said there won't be anything else in the foreseeable future.

"I'm writing when I want to," he told OK! magazine.

"So when bad things happen in my life, I'm going into the studio and writing about them.

"I'm excited, but it's not going to be any time soon...

"I'm just trying to make it the most honest work I've ever done."

Smith's much-lauded debut album, In The Lonely Hour, which was penned when he was "a lonely 21-year-old" and "sad and heartbroken" over a failed romance, came out in mid-2014.

Since then, it has sold around 8.5 million units worldwide.

I am not sure how much of a role honesty played in its success, but I am guessing not much.

Since when have musicians ever been under oath?

The idea that songs have to come from a real place is silly and even destructive.

Having just watched the Amy Winehouse biopic Amy, it soon becomes clear how dangerous it can be for an artist to conflate art with life.

The English singer, who died of alcohol poisoning in 2011 at the age of 27, exploited her problems for profit rather than dealing with them in a responsible fashion, and it literally killed her.

WASTING TIME

I am not saying Smith is like that at all. What I am saying is he is wasting his time.

Winehouse didn't need to have a crappy life to be a great musician, and neither does Smith.

One of the best examples I can think of is Paul McCartney.

He is one of the world's most chipper guys, and yet he has written some of the most powerfully moving songs of all time.

Yesterday. Hey Jude. Let It Be. Blackbird. Penny Lane. How did he manage such a feat?

With a little thing called imagination. Fantasy, not honesty, is the single most powerful weapon in an artist's arsenal. You sit down and you think something up.

This notion that a pop star has to be some pathetic wretch in order to do his job has ruined an awful lot of pop stars.

So get working, Sam. Your fans don't want your autobiography.

Just that sweet, sweet voice.