Growing up in Dallas, Britton Smith attended Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, a renowned incubator for young talent whose graduates often go on to Juilliard and other elite programs. Yet behind the promise of artistic ambition lay a story of hardship and resilience.
After a painful separation from his parents over his identity, he spent four years on his grandparents’ couch, finding both shelter and the quiet determination to build a new life. A friend’s interest in theater became his lifeline.
“I was just trying to get off my granny’s couch,” he said, laughing. That decision led him to apply to theater schools across the country and eventually to Pace University in New York City, where he earned a BFA in Musical Theatre, a move that would change everything.
Now, after years of carving out a space in New York’s creative landscape, Britton’s presence is striking. “Yo, New York is crazy,” he says, smiling. “When you move here as a young artist, it teaches you who you are and who you’re not.” For Smith, the city has become both a mirror and a muse. “New York inspires me constantly. There’s a reason they call it the best city in the world. You collide with life here, not just the beauty of it, but the wholeness of it.”
Through its chaos, the city continues to shape him: his empathy, his art, his community. “Being around people whose lives and struggles are different from mine makes me more grateful, more accountable, more alive. That’s so New York.” In his performances, that raw honesty translates into a sacred kind of communion. “Our audiences here are incredible. They’re brave people who come wanting to pause, to be real for ninety minutes. Because New York is hard, and in our shows, we get to be safe together, to practice our most authentic selves.”
For Smith, the heartbeat of his artistry is love. “I hope people leave saying, ‘Yo, I just met a love warrior,’” he says. “Someone who wants to use love to answer questions about himself and the world, to fight with, to laugh with.” His performances reach beyond spectacle; they aim for intimacy. “I hope people understand me the way they understand their high school friend, the one they could tell all their secrets to,” he says. “When I watch artists I love, I want to feel that too, that they would hold my fears gently. That’s what I want my audience to feel.”
That emotional connection now carries across continents. Currently, Smith is on two tours: one international tour with country artist Cam, and another with his band, Britton & The Sting, in support of their upcoming album Mama. “You’ve probably seen the Instagram posts, all this water talk,” he laughs. “Yes, dude, water is amazing. I wrote about twenty songs about water.”
What began as a premiere at Little Island evolved into a full-blown exploration of music and activism, blending performance with environmental consciousness. “I feel like I have a water church now,” he says. “I go around the country singing songs about water, and people are really connecting on a deep level.”
Smith’s new single, “TODO,” drops this November 11, offering a first glimpse into his upcoming album Return to MAMA, out January 11, 2026, via Joy Machine Records. The record is a sonic offering that explores humanity’s connection to the spirit of water. Water — our first home, our first mirror — becomes both muse and messenger. The album invites listeners to pause and honor the feminine nature of water, to revere her as our original sustainer. “When we honor the feminine within ourselves, each other, and the Earth,” Smith shares, “we begin to remember our wholeness. If we can see water as sacred, perhaps we can see ourselves as sacred too.”
Next year, Britton & The Sting will embark on the Mama national tour to six cities across the U.S., each especially vulnerable to water scarcity. “Water is the most unifying thing ever,” Britton reflects. “As someone obsessed with unity, I finally found it. Water will bring us together.”
Representing New York on the world stage, Smith carries both his Southern roots and his city’s fearless edge.
“I’m proud to represent New York, even though I’m originally from Texas,” he says. “If Freddie Mercury, Marvin Gaye, and Tina Turner had a baby, it would come out like me: big-mouthed, loud, and aggressive. I’m a love warrior, yes, but aggressive about it. That’s very New York.”
Sixteen years in the city, he adds, taught him resilience and empathy in equal measure. “It taught me to move through bullshit, to navigate the unfamiliar, and still arrive at a place of love and closeness with our audiences,” he explains. “I hope when people see us, they feel that New York power: specific, raw, and full of heart.”
Whether performing on a Brooklyn rooftop or an international stage, Smith radiates what New York gave him: courage, soul, and unshakable love.
“People respond to soul,” he says simply. “It transcends geography. They don’t even need to know where we’re from, they just feel it.”
You can follow Smith on Instagram @brittonsmithworld.
Ready to join the celebration in person? Britton is taking the vibe worldwide! From New York stages to international arenas with Britton & The Sting and as a special guest on Cam’s The Slow Down Tour!
Britton & The Sting – Live Shows
Oct 15 – Elsewhere (Brooklyn, NY)
Oct 20 – Gramercy Theatre (New York, NY)
Oct 25 – Guggenheim (New York, NY)
Oct 26 – Nashville, TN
Nov 4 – Ars Nova (New York, NY)
Nov 17 – Nublu (New York, NY)
Nov 18 – Ars Nova (New York, NY)
Dec 17 – Nublu (New York, NY)
Cam Country – The Slow Down Tour
(with special guest Britton Smith on select dates)
Oct 20 – New York, NY
Oct 24 – Chicago, IL
Oct 26 – Nashville, TN
Oct 28 – Alexandria, VA
Oct 29 – Philadelphia, PA
Nov 14 – San Francisco, CA
Nov 17 – Los Angeles, CA
Jan 16 – Flagstaff, AZ
Feb 17 – Glasgow, UK
Feb 18 – Belfast, UK
Feb 21 – Manchester, UK
Feb 22 – Birmingham, UK
Feb 25 – London, UK
Feb 27 – Amsterdam, Netherlands
Feb 28 – Cologne, Germany
