Sam Kim releases new English song 'Smile', produced by R3HAB

Korean-American singer Sam Kim has dropped a brand-new English single titled ‘Smile’, produced by Moroccan-Dutch DJ R3HAB.

R3HAB has previously worked on tracks for various other hit K-pop acts, including TWICE, Chung Ha and more. “You always thinking, I lie / And my heart don’t stop denying / Baby, I love the way you thinking / I love the way you fuckin’ smile,” Kim croons in the chorus of the new dance pop track as the beat begins to drop.

The musician had come to prominence as a contestant on the third season of talent competition series K-pop Star in 2013, for which he had moved to South Korea from his hometown of Los Angeles in the United States. After emerging as the runner-up on the series, Kim promptly signed to Antenna Music, which is notably headed by You Hee-yeol, a renowned singer-songwriter in South Korea.

Since making his debut in 2016 as a soloist with the ‘I Am Sam’ mini-album, Kim had gone on to release one full-length album, ‘Sun And Moon’ in 2018, and a handful of other singles. He has also made soundtrack appearances on various Korean dramas throughout his career, with his most recent being ‘Love Me Like That’ on the Han So-hee-led Nevertheless last year.

In a previous interview with NME, Kim revealed that he never expected the virality of ‘Love Me Like That’ upon its release. “I wrote this song years ago, roughly three years ago maybe? And at that time I remember just kind of going with the flow and writing it,” he recalled. “I never imagined that it would come to be an OST to such an interesting drama, to say the least.”