--- title: Billboard Music Awards 2015: Sam Smith Accepts Award With Cue Cards description: The singer won the Billboard Music Award for top male artist Sunday night but was unable to attend due to vocal surgery. canonical: https://time.com/3882038/sam-smith-billboard-music-awards-cue-cards/ author: Eliza Berman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-18T01:47:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:03:05.961Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Watch Sam Smith Deliver His Billboard Acceptance Speech Entirely With Cue Cards og:description: The singer won the Billboard Music Award for top male artist Sunday night but was unable to attend due to vocal surgery. og:url: https://time.com/3882038/sam-smith-billboard-music-awards-cue-cards/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte89e64bf2d554e7a/69884d098e060106e64602f3/sam-smith.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Recording artist Sam Smith accepts the Top Radio Songs Artist award via video onstage during the 2015 Billboard Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, on May 17, 2015 . og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Sam Smith Deliver His Billboard Acceptance Speech Entirely With Cue Cards twitter:description: The singer won the Billboard Music Award for top male artist Sunday night but was unable to attend due to vocal surgery. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte89e64bf2d554e7a/69884d098e060106e64602f3/sam-smith.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Sam Smith Deliver His Billboard Acceptance Speech Entirely With Cue Cards > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: Taylor Swift Steals the Show at the Billboard Music Awards 2015 [Watch (HLS stream): Taylor Swift Steals the Show at the Billboard Music Awards 2015](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qLXVgKJ8.m3u8) (1:08)  _Published 2015-05-18. Highlights from the Billboard Music Awards 2015 in Las Vegas._  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. May 18, 2015 1:47 AM UTC  Recording artist Sam Smith accepts the Top Radio Songs Artist award via video onstage during the 2015 Billboard Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, on May 17, 2015 . Recording artist Sam Smith accepts the Top Radio Songs Artist award via video onstage during the 2015 Billboard Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, on May 17, 2015 .Ethan Miller—Getty Images  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. May 18, 2015 1:47 AM UTC Sam Smith won the Billboard Music Award for top male artist Sunday night, but the four-time Grammy winner was unable to accept it in person. Smith was in New York City recovering from vocal surgery after vocal cord [hemorrhaging](http://www.people.com/article/sam-smith-posts-hospital-selfie-throat-surgery) forced him to cancel his Australian tour. But the British crooner still made time to accept the award remotely—using cue cards that allowed him to rest his recovering voice. Though Smith will be forced to keep quiet for several weeks, his speech was no less heartfelt, thanking his fans and sending some special messages to friends like Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and Nicki Minaj. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3882038/sam-smith-billboard-music-awards-cue-cards/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3882038/sam-smith-billboard-music-awards-cue-cards/"},"headline":"Watch Sam Smith Deliver His Billboard Acceptance Speech Entirely With Cue Cards","datePublished":"2015-05-18T01:47:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:03:05.961Z","description":"The soulful singer was silenced by vocal surgery","url":"https://time.com/3882038/sam-smith-billboard-music-awards-cue-cards/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Music","Sam Smith"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte89e64bf2d554e7a/69884d098e060106e64602f3/sam-smith.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliza Berman","jobTitle":"Berman is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte89e64bf2d554e7a/69884d098e060106e64602f3/sam-smith.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Recording artist Sam Smith accepts the Top Radio Songs Artist award via video onstage during the 2015 Billboard Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, on May 17, 2015 .","caption":"Recording artist Sam Smith accepts the Top Radio Songs Artist award via video onstage during the 2015 Billboard Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, on May 17, 2015 .","creditText":"Ethan Miller—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3882038/sam-smith-billboard-music-awards-cue-cards/","name":"Watch Sam Smith Deliver His Billboard Acceptance Speech Entirely With Cue Cards"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Taylor Swift Steals the Show at the Billboard Music Awards 2015","description":"Highlights from the Billboard Music Awards 2015 in Las Vegas.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/qLXVgKJ8/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-05-18T06:19:04.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qLXVgKJ8.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3882038/sam-smith-billboard-music-awards-cue-cards/","duration":"PT1M8S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3882038/sam-smith-billboard-music-awards-cue-cards/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```