"Stay with Me" is a song by British soul and pop musician Sam Smith, used on his first album titled "In the Lonely Hour", from 2014.
The single was released officially first in the United States, on the 14th of April, 2014 and on the 18th of May in the United Kingdom. It was made available on two formats, as a CD single, as well as a digital download. This two minutes and 52 seconds song was released by the label Capitol Records.
Smith co-wrote it together with William Phillips, Jeff Lynne, James Napier and Tom Petty. The production was handled by Jimmy Napes, Rodney Jerkins and Steve Fitzmaurice.
"Stay with Me" is composed as a ballad with gospel influences and expresses the feelings of a lover that wishes to stay together with his partner. It was the best single by Sam Smith, both commercially and in popular culture. On the UK Singles Charts, the song managed to rise to the top. In New Zealand and Canada, "Stay with Me" also reached number one.
In the United States it was very successful as well, climbing up to the second spot of the US Billboard Hot 100 charts.
A version by Darkchild for "Stay with Me" managed to win two Grammy Awards at the 57th edition. The awards were for the categories of Record of the Year and also Song of the Year.
The song was recorded in an Old Street studio, starting with simple piano chords by William Phillips. James Napier followed on the construction of the song with some drum instrumentals. In an interview, Sam Smith said that the entire writing of the song took only about half an hour, as the entire process came very natural.
The resulting demo was the version that was later officially released.
The premiere for "Stay with Me" was on the BBC Radio 1 station, on the 25th of March 2014. Four days later, it was performed live by Smith on the US show "Saturday Night Live". On the 16th of May, it was performed once more on "The Graham Norton Show". In June, Smith performed the song alongside David Letterman and Mary J. Blige on the show "Good Morning America".
"Stay with Me" managed to chart very well even internationally, getting top 10 positions in territories such as Australia, Belgium, Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, France, Netherlands, Japan, Italy, Portugal, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Slovakia, Scotland.
