How Myles Smith turned five years of therapy notes into a debut album

"If anything, it should be showing that there's millions of Myles Smiths who exist, and hopefully now there's more of a ladder and a pathway for that to be seen."

For an artist whose music is built on emotional openness, it would be easy to assume that sharing personal stories comes naturally.

But Smith admits there are still some songs he writes purely for himself.

On Grandma's Place, he turns his attention to family, childhood and loss, revisiting memories of a place he describes as a refuge growing up.

That song was so personal that, for a time, he was not convinced it would make the album.

"Sometimes I write songs like that and they just sit on a hard drive because they are for me," he says. "But this one just felt super right."

Although My Mess, My Heart, My Life was pieced together across dressing rooms, hotel rooms, tour buses and studios over three years, Smith says he relied on a close-knit group of collaborators throughout the process.

Among them was producer Peter Fenn and songwriter Gabe Simon, who co-wrote Grandma's Place.

"I only feel free and open when I'm with my friends," he says.

Among those he now counts as friends is Niall Horan. The former One Direction star is the album's only credited guest artist, appearing on Drive Safe.

But friendships with Horan and artists such as Ed Sheeran are rarely just about music.

"I feel like with Niall and Ed the friendship is really awesome because none of the conversations are ever really about work," he says.

Those conversations have become increasingly valuable to Smith as his profile has grown.

"Ed said this comment to me one time: 'As you get bigger, and as you get more famous, you don't change, the people around you do.'

"To me, I'm still the same Myles I was three years ago, five years ago, 10 years ago," he says.

While Smith may still see himself as the same person he was before the success arrived, the speed of his rise is hard to ignore.

In 2024, he took to the BBC Introducing stage at Radio 1's Big Weekend in his hometown of Luton. Within a year, he had graduated to the festival's main stage, returning again this year to a packed crowd in Sunderland and sharing the moment with Horan.

But while much of My Mess, My Heart, My Life looks backwards, it does not stay there.

The latter part of the album moves towards something more hopeful.

Songs such as Nice To Meet You, Gold and Stay (If You Wanna Dance) shift the focus from reflection to optimism and being present in the moment.

"It was important to end the album, and particularly this project on a high," he says.

"I feel like I always try to mirror my music with my live shows and my live shows are always about taking people on an emotional journey and then sending you home happy."

It is that sense of hope which lingers on as Gold closes the album.

"Even though I may appear miserable for a lot of this album, I genuinely always walk with hope and I walk with joy at the end of the day," he says.