Calvin Harris and Dillon Francis worked there... no way!
Sam Smith & Normani's 'Dancing With a Stranger' Hits No. 1
18:00 May/19/2019
"Im so excited for everyone to hear Dancing With A Stranger, which I wrote on The Thrill Of It All tour last year. For me it bottles everything I was feeling whilst juggling my personal life and touring. It is also such a beautiful moment for me as Im a huge, huge fan of Normani and everything she is. Im so excited to watch her light shine. I hope everyone enjoys hearing this song as much as I do."
The collaboration between the two came about through a chance encounter at the studio in LA as Smith was writing with pop legends Stargate and Jimmy Napes, Normani was in the studio next door and with both artists being long-term fans of each other it was a no-brainer for her to team up with Smith to create the new track.
Sam Smith has spent the past year travelling around the world on his tour following the release of his sophomore album The Thrill of it All, seeing him sell over 1 million tickets across 100 shows in 2018. Dancing With A Stranger is his first new music in 2019 and follows on from his global hit with Calvin Harris Promises which stormed the charts last summer. Smith will be flying out to South America this spring for Lollapalooza before heading over to South Africa for a string of five shows in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
On the new single Sam Smith says, Im so excited for everyone to hear Dancing With A Stranger, which I wrote on The Thrill Of It All tour last year. For me it bottles everything I was feeling whilst juggling my personal life and touring. It is also such a beautiful moment for me as Im a huge, huge fan of Normani and everything she is. Im so excited to watch her light shine. I hope everyone enjoys hearing this song as much as I do.
Smith is no stranger to writing love songs. The established singer, who has four Grammy awards under his belt, spent a majority of 2018 touring for his critically acclaimed 2017 sophomore album, The Thrill of It All. Smith started a new chapter with his second album, but still maintained what worked from his first sincere songs that hone into emotions of love, regret and heartbreak. While on the Thrill of It All Tour, Smith penned Dancing With a Stranger, another sentimental hit that reminds us of why his music is so resonating.
"Dancing" is just the fifth co-billed No. 1 between a male and female soloist since Radio Songs began in December 1990. It follows Bruno Mars and Cardi B's "Finesse" (four weeks, 2018); JAY-Z and Alicia Keys' "Empire State of Mind" (nine, 2009-10); Usher and Keys' "My Boo" (six, 2004); and Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle's "A Whole New World (Aladdin's Theme)" (four, 1993).
Here Are the Lyrics to Sam Smith & Normani's 'Dancing With a Stranger'
Additionally, Smith and Normani wrote "Dancing" with StarGate, the duo of Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel Storleer Eriksen, and James "Jimmy Napes" Napier, with StarGate and Napier producing the song. StarGate earns its 11th Radio Songs No. 1 (having written and produced each leader) and first since Rihanna's "Diamonds" in December 2012. The pair first reigned via Beyoncé's "Irreplaceable" in 2006-07.
The R&B-influenced track shows off the powerful vocals of the singers, especially of 22-year-old Normani, the former Fifth Harmony songstress who is successfully making a name of her own. Her debut single released last year, Love Lies with Khalid, propelled Normani into the limelight as a new solo artist. Her recent Billboardcover story dives deeper into the young singers quest to move on from her past girl group and find her own unique voice.
As for the lyrics in Dancing With A Stranger, Smith said in a Capitol Records press release that the song bottles everything I was feeling whilst juggling my personal life and touring.
Smith opens the song with: I don't wanna be alone tonight/It's pretty clear that I'm not over you/I'm still thinking 'bout the things you do/So I don't want to be alone tonight, alone tonight, alone tonight.
