The Best New Pop Mix from BBC Sounds is a two-hour playlist of the freshest and finest pop hits, featuring exclusive voice messages from different artists.
The latest mix features tracks by the likes of 24KGoldn, Madison Beer and Clean Bandit. It also includes messages from artists such as Salem Ilese, Claire Rosinkranz and Sam Smith who reveals the story behind his song Diamonds and his love for tuna melts!
Talking about the song, Sam says: “Diamonds is a song I wrote last year, I was having so much fun in the studio, where basically I was pretending to be a very rich woman in a massive mansion, and her husband had left her. She was in the house alone, heartbroken, singing a vengeful song about this guy – that’s what the song is about.”
Sam also reveals an addiction to tuna melts: “There is a certain cafe around the corner for me, that does the best tuna melt I’ve ever tried in my life, and I can’t stop eating them,” the singer/songwriter admits.
Speaking about a favourite place in the world, Sam reveals: “If I could be anywhere in the world right now, I would have to say, Scotland. It’s a very weird one but it’s one of my favourite places in the world and I find it very peaceful, I just love being there so much.”
There’s one particular artist who made an impression on Sam: “The thing that got me into music was Celine Dion,” says Sam, and recalls: “My first ever memory of hearing music was listening to It’s All Coming Back To Me Now by Celine Dion, and when I heard that I just thought, I want to be Celine Dion, and I’m going to try for the rest of my life.”
When it comes to performing live, Sam says: “The best gig of my life so far would have to be my performance of Mardi Gras in Sydney earlier this year. It was just before COVID and I was there with all my team and I basically got to fly on stage in a huge dress, it was the biggest high I think I’ve ever had on stage ever in my life.”
Radio 1’s Best New Pop Mix is now available to listen to on BBC Sounds.
