Four-time Grammy award winner Sam Smith may be used to the life of luxury as he tours the world, but he isn't accustomed to being evacuated from a five-star hotel, which is how he found himself on Monday in Auckland.
The British pop star, who plays sellout shows at VectorArena tonight and tomorrow, was forced to flee the Sofitel Hotel in the Viaduct around 9am when the fire alarm went off.
Sam Smith posted photos of a trip to Piha.
The shrill sound of the alarm was matched only by the blaring bells of the fire engines arriving. Hotel guests moved out quickly. Many in various stages of undress.
The Stay With Me singer - who had only jetted into the country the day before and took to social media complaining of jetlag - made his way calmly out of the hotel lobby and stood away from the gathered crowd, on busy Halsey St.
Wearing a navy hoodie and trying to look inconspicuous, Smith was snapped waiting on the footpath with his hands jammed in his pockets.
"It was the last place you'd expect to see a multimillion-dollar international pop star," a spectator told The Diary. "We were shocked when we saw Sam Smith evacuated out of the hotel and standing on the pavement with the hoi polloi. He wasn't a diva or anything. He didn't make a fuss. He just waited patiently like everyone else."
Sam Smith stood with other guests after being evacuated from the hotel.
It was a false alarm - there was no fire.
Smith's career, on the other hand, is blazing hot. He has rapidly risen to success following the release of his debut album last year. The 22-year-old reportedly made an estimated US$58 million in combined earnings over the past 12 months.
The early morning emergency evacuation did little to dampen Smith's spirits. Later that day, the pop star played tourist, taking to Instagram and posting several images, including of a trip to Piha, followed by a sedate dinner at Britomart eatery Ortolana. Yesterday he travelled to Matamata's Hobbiton.
Smith was enthralled by Piha. "Day off," he posted to his 3.5 million followers in front of a scenic view of Lion's Rock. "This place is so beautiful. I'm losing my shit."
No mention of an earlier ear-splitting evacuation.
Sam Smith stood with other guests after being evacuated from the hotel.
Stephie Key goes solo with Cherry on Top
First Kid Stephie Key, who is studying fine art at a prestigious university in Paris, has been invited to participate in her first solo exhibition in the French capital - and her parents are as proud as Punch.
Key, who uses the pseudonym Cherry Lazar, will be exhibiting 60 artworks that she's created over the past three years, including erotic pop art-style self-portraits that have raised both eyebrows and heart beats.
Entitled Cherry on Top, the exhibition of digitally-enhanced photographs on plexiglass will run for a month from May 7 at the exclusive Jonas Bowman jewellery boutique on Rue Charlot.
The provocative advertisement promoting the exhibition displays a naked Stephie photographed from behind wearing only silver stilettos and a pink wig. It is a teaser of what the audience can expect of the retrospective.
Her dad has laughed off his daughter's racy pics in the past calling them "pretty risque".
"We are very proud of our little girl with her first solo exhibition," a clearly chuffed Prime Minister John Key told The Diary yesterday.
"Stephie is having the time of her life in Paris at University. She has one year to go to complete her degree. And it's great to see her doing what she loves and being recognised for her work, and that it is proving commercial too."
