“Pray” is the second single from Sam Smith’s sophomore album The Thrill of it All. The song follows lead single “Too Good at Goodbyes”, which dropped just four weeks earlier.

The song combines strong gospel influnces with a hip hop beat, courtesy of Timbaland, who co-produced the song with Jimmy Napes.

Smith told Billboard that “Pray” was inspired by a visit to Iraq:

I spent five days in Mosul and came back ­embarrassed that I had known so little about the world and other people’s lives…I wanted to write about what is going on in the rest of the world, and that it’s not always pretty.

The tone of the lyric is searingly self-critical; a ‘coming-of-age’ song involving feelings of shame, guilt, newly raised awareness, and ultimately some degree of trust in whatever Power they feel might exists.

It is also a markedly intelligent song, indicating Sam’s grasp of the shortcomings and immaturity of many young people, and the shocks and processes that lead to self-growth and a compassionate outlook.

Sam Smith performed the song at the 2018 Grammy Awards.