Watch Sam Smith Perform Stripped-Down 'To Die for' in Golden Studio

Sam Smith has stripped down their latest single “To Die for” in a new version.

Filmed and recorded live in Los Angeles, the new rendition features Smith accompanied by cello and piano inside a golden recording studio. According to a press statement, Smith intended this version of “To Die for” to resemble their earliest musical releases.

Smith released the original version of the song on Valentine’s Day, featuring a vocal sample from the 2001 cult film Donnie Darko. On the same day, Smith announced their upcoming third album of the same name, due out May 1st Capitol Records.

In a recent behind-the-scenes clip for the making-of the “To Die for” , where Smith posed as a disembodied mannequin head in a storefront window, Smith revealed that they wrote the song the day after finding out their ex had a boyfriend. “I was so depressed, so I decided to take the day off. And then the next day I went in the studio, and this song just fell out of nowhere. After we finished writing the song, I was in the studio, and I went on YouTube, and I typed in the lyrics to the song, and the clip came up from Donnie Darko.”