Songfacts®:

• Sam Smith's 2026 album, Hazel Eyes, tracks the ups and downs of the British singer's first long-term relationship, from the ebullient "My Guy" to the pensive "When He's Gone." The latter tune finds the "Stay With Me" singer once again watching a lover walk out the door. "When he's walking out on me, he takes everything I need," Smith sings. "My whole world's broken when he's gone."
  
  "This album explores every shade of a relationship and 'When He's Gone' is more of a melancholy shade," Smith noted. "We captured it live without a click track and built everything around that original recording to preserve the feeling of a storm rumbling in the distance. This song is about the strange space that exists after a fight - when the room goes quiet, the dust settles, and you're left wondering what happens next."
• Hazel Eyes is inspired by Smith's relationship with fashion designer Christian Cowan, whom they first dated in 2023. The album charts the early stages of a romance that Smith hopes will last a lifetime.
  
  "I moved to New York to be with my partner," they told the Dish podcast.
  
  The move from England to America also shaped the record, which Smith described as soundtracking that change in their life. The opening track, "Everlasting Love" looks back to the night they met Cowan, with the album following the relationship through its first two years.
• The title Hazel Eyes refers to Cowan's eye color.