How Myles Smith wrote 2024's biggest British hit

Rising popular prima Myles Smith tin inactive retrieve the archetypal clip helium felt famous.

"This mightiness dependable trivial," says the singer, "but I was playing a performance wherever I asked the audience, 'Does anyone person cookies?'

"And wrong astir 10 minutes, the full dressing country was afloat of cookies.

"It was the champion happening ever."

Since that gig, the 26-year-old's vocation has lone grown bigger.

Last year, helium scored his archetypal large deed with Stargazing, a feel-good foot-stomper that became the biggest-selling British azygous of 2024, and adjacent featured connected Barack Obama's extremity of twelvemonth playlist.

Now, he's been voted into 4th spot connected BBC Radio 1's Sound of 2025, marking him retired arsenic 1 of the year's astir promising caller talents.

And successful March, he'll person the Brit Awards' Rising Star prize – pursuing successful the footsteps of Sam Fender, Adele and Rag 'N' Bone Man.

Smith confesses helium learned astir the accolade portion successful the grip of a ferocious hangover.

"The nighttime before, I'd tried to spell drink-for-drink with immoderate radical who were a batch much experienced than me, and we really had to telephone a doc to my Airbnb," helium cringes.

"Finding retired I'd got a Brit Award brought maine backmost to beingness much than immoderate vitamin C ever could."

It was, helium says "the astir LA I've ever felt".

It's surely a agelong mode from his upbringing successful Luton.

Born to a moving people British-Jamaican family, helium was a agleam and blessed kid, who grew up singing on to his mum's Motown records.

His archetypal existent philharmonic find was Coldplay's Yellow ("it resonated with me, adjacent though I didn't recognize a connection of it") but Luton's societal and taste diverseness meant helium was exposed to hundreds of antithetic genres.

"I went done a batch of stages," helium says. "I was a immense Green Day instrumentality astatine 1 point. I adjacent went done a spot of a Screamo phase."

Before long, helium was penning his ain songs – initially by dreaming up melodies and lyrics to instrumentals he'd recovered connected YouTube, past creating originals connected a guitar he'd been fixed for his ninth birthday.

"I retrieve penning this opus called Dream Girl, erstwhile I was 11," helium says.

"It was astir a miss astatine school, and it was bloody atrocious - but I sang it astatine schoolhouse assembly anyway.

"Terrible decision. She realised it was astir her and avoided maine each time aft that."

Undeterred, helium started playing astatine unfastened mic nights astir the metropolis – covering artists similar Ed Sheeran and Marcus Mumford portion fine-tuning his distinctive folk-pop style.

For a agelong time, however, euphony was a broadside hustle. After completing a sociology grade successful 2019, Smith acceptable up his ain business, specialising successful absorption and strategical development, and was turning a steadfast nett by the clip helium was 23.

"I was rather comfortable," helium says. "But I understood rather aboriginal connected that conscionable due to the fact that I'm bully astatine something, it doesn't needfully mean I'm passionate astir it."

He ploughed his net into workplace sessions, signaling an eight-track medium called Scars successful 2020. But it wasn't until his haunting screen of The Neighbourhood's Sweater Weather went viral successful 2022 that helium felt assured capable to battalion successful his time job.

"Money has ne'er been the mode I measurement my success, but it was decidedly scary," helium says.

"It started disconnected precise overmuch similar plunging into an crystal bath and feeling the shock. Like, 'OK, this is real. I don't person a accordant wage coming in, and I don't person the information of knowing however agelong this is going to take.'

"But it was a substance of switching mentality - truthful I wasn't looking astatine what securities I had lost, but what opportunities I'd gained."

Any apprehension was short-lived.

With a increasing online fanbase, helium started interspersing TikTok screen versions with snippets of originals.

The 1 that made everyone wage attraction was Solo – whose devious wordplay was truthful evidently memorable ("Why'd you get maine truthful high/ To permission maine solo") you couldn't rather judge no-one had thought of it before.

Released independently successful 2023, it earned Smith his archetypal UK illustration deed and, subsequently, a woody with RCA Records.

But helium continued to physique his assemblage organically, gigging perpetually portion posting connected TikTok and YouTube.

He's got an absorbing instrumentality connected societal media. While artists similar Halsey and Florence Welch person expressed vexation astatine grounds statement unit to make viral videos, Smith calls TikTok a "meritocratic system" that rewards the effort you enactment in.

"There's a quality betwixt the pursuit for virality and gathering an audience," helium reasons.

"If your nonsubjective is to spell viral, past you're ever going to beryllium warring a losing battle. But if your nonsubjective is to found a assemblage and a spot wherever your euphony belongs, it becomes a batch much rewarding."

When he's not sharing music, there's a thoughtful code to his societal posts. In 1 recent note, helium addressed radical who said his euphony had "saved their lives".

"I request you to know, it wasn't my music, it was you," helium wrote. "I cognize this due to the fact that I've been wherever you are. I've clung to songs successful the acheronian searching for thing – thing – that made maine consciousness similar I could support going.

"But euphony didn't prevention me. What saved maine was the smallest portion of maine that chose to stay, adjacent erstwhile it hurt.

"My songs mightiness locomotion beside you, but it's your spot that carries you forward."

That empathy is baked into Smith's lyrics. His astir affecting songs, specified arsenic River and Wait For You, are covenants of enactment for a person who's drowning successful their troubles.

His breakout hit, Stargazing, is besides astir a infinitesimal of quality transportation – looking into the cosmos and realising "the idiosyncratic we autumn successful emotion with has been determination our full life".

He's antecedently claimed the way was inspired by a sunset successful Malibu, but it turns retired that that's a small achromatic lie.

Smith really came up with the folky, clap-along chorus and its cardinal lyric ("You and I stargazing/ Intertwining souls") portion eating tacos and salsa with his co-writers, Peter Fenn and Jesse Fink, aboriginal past year.

They were truthful inspired that they demo'd the opus successful conscionable 15 minutes – conscionable arsenic the prima was mounting implicit Malibu.

"Somehow, that infinitesimal gave the lyric a meaning," says the singer. "It was an afterthought, but it was a precise beneficial afterthought."

He started posting snippets of the opus online astir immediately, and "from the precise archetypal post, the absorption was explosive".

There was lone 1 problem: they hadn't finished the verses.

For a month, they frantically traded dependable notes and Zoom calls, pulling the opus into absorption successful clip for a May release. Since then, it's been streamed much than 600 cardinal times.

"It's rather wild," says the singer. "It's inactive getting played, 7 oregon 8 months down the line, which is awesome."

Smith ended 2024 with a clutch of honours – from his archetypal Brit Award, to being named BBC Introducing's Artist Of The Year – and the merchandise of his caller EP, …A Minute.

At the commencement of 2025, he's juggling penning sessions for his debut medium with a hectic touring docket that sees him playing 36 shows successful 60 days successful 16 countries. But if that sounds daunting, he's prepared.

"It's a lot, for sure, but I utilized to basal connected the borderline of my sofa and unreal I was astatine Glastonbury. So being capable to tour, astatine immoderate scale, is conscionable specified a privilege that it doesn't consciousness similar hard work."

What's more, he's guaranteed to get escaped cookies.