“Stargazing,” the 2024 hit by British folk-pop artist Myles Smith, is anthemic almost immediately: There are shouts, claps, and an ear worm of a chorus. “You and I stargazin’,” Smith belts, “intertwinin’ souls.” His voice crescendos before falling back to an-almost speaking cadence: “We were never strangers / You were right there all along.”
The song arrived within the recent folk-pop renaissance, in the year Noah Kahan ‘s “Stick Season” reigned the UK charts. But the upbeat optimism at the song’s core — that your love is out there, looking up at the same stars — recalls 2010s pop rock hits with repeated choruses like Walk The Moon’s “Shut Up and Dance” or Sheppard’s “Geronimo.” That combination — some sonic nostalgia mixed with an affliction for lyrical pop — helped make the track the biggest British single of 2024.
Two years later, “Stargazing” is included on Smith’s introspective debut album, “My Mess, My Heart, My Life.” Also included is his 2024 hit “Nice To Meet You,” the fiddle- and acoustic-guitar backed track that similarly mixed country, folk and pop influences into a danceable radio hit. Years later, the warmth of these songs helps avoid them feeling too stale. But what makes “My Mess, My Heart, My Life” interesting is the personal history that Smith fills out around those more universally resonant tracks.
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“My Mess,” the opening track, is vulnerable from the first verse: “I was born into a fractured family / Where a word can start a war,” he sings over guitars and a mandolin. He explores his family dynamic further on “Grandma’s Place,” which tracks his close but strained relationship with his grandmother. “Sertraline,” named for the antidepressant, further details how these dynamics continue to influence his present self.
Smith gets a cosign from Niall Horan on “Drive Safe,” where the duo trade verses about following your heart (“wherever it takes you / Tears gonna fall, and hell might just break loose”). While generic, the sentiment hits harder when considered against some of the details about Smith’s own relationships, and his own mental health, shared elsewhere on the project.
Smith also collaborated with other heavy hitters of the folk-pop genre in building out the 15-track project. If the traditional Irish influence — listen for the uilleann pipes — on the still-poppy “Dublin Lights” recalls Ed Sheeran’s “Galway Girl,” it is because the song is written with Sheeran, who Smith will open for on tour this summer. “Sertraline” is produced by Gabe Simon, a frequent collaborator of Kahan’s (who, similarly, often addresses mental health in his music.)
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“And I’m still not able to open up / Even to the people I love,” Smith sings on “My Mess.” The project that follows largely proves otherwise. Smith is at his best, here, when he is vulnerable and direct — building out the character behind the emotional lyrics that brought his ascension.
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“My Mess, My Heart, My Life” by Myles Smith
Three and a half stars out of five.
On repeat: “Sertraline,” “Stay (If You Wanna Dance)”
Skip it: “Heaven”
For fans of: Noah Kahan, Ed Sheeran, acoustic pop
