--- description: The singer won the Billboard Music Award for top male artist Sunday night but was unable to attend due to vocal surgery. title: Watch Sam Smith Deliver His Billboard Acceptance Speech Entirely With Cue Cards image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte89e64bf2d554e7a/69884d098e060106e64602f3/sam-smith.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch Sam Smith Deliver His Billboard Acceptance Speech Entirely With Cue Cards  by [Eliza Berman](/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Berman is a senior editor at TIME. May 18, 2015 1:47 AM CUT  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](/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Berman is a senior editor at TIME. May 18, 2015 1:47 AM CUT 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 "undefined") 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":"2026-04-13T07:19:57.753Z","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"}}] ```