Sam Smith needed a backing choir for ‘To Be Free.’ They found much of it in Philadelphia.

More than a dozen backup singers on British pop superstar Sam Smith’s new single, “To Be Free” — and a yet-to-be-announced upcoming album — are from Philadelphia.

Philly native Brandon Pain pieced together the choir now known as the TwoCity Chorus alongside four-time Grammy-nominated South Jersey native Anthony “Ant” Clemons and New York-based Nio Levon.

The spare instrumentation on Smith’s early offerings gave their soulful, irrepressible voice room to breathe and made several of those songs megahits — from their first international hit, “Stay With Me,” to their Academy Award-winning “Writing’s on the Wall” from the James Bond film Spectre.

Smith’s style has evolved. Their more recent selections — “Unholy” with Kim Petras and “Love Me More” — have often swung between Gregorian-style chants rich with religious imagery and a bouncy, up-tempo electronic instrumentation bordering on dance music.

But they wanted once again to accentuate their signature voice for “To Be Free.”

The team behind “To Be Free” reached out to Clemons — the Willingboro native who’s earned four Grammy nominations in a virtuosic singing, songwriting, and producing career, most recently for his work on Mary J. Blige’s 2022 album Good Morning Gorgeous. Clemons, in turn, tapped Pain to assemble a 22-voice choir to back Smith on the track and in an accompanying music video.

If the mission was to return Smith to their vocal-heavy roots, it was accomplished on “To Be Free”: The slim accompaniment and soaring choral vocals give the song both the explosive, emotional pulse of Smith’s “I’m Not the Only One” and the seraphic polish of “Gloria.”

“I’ve never had a recording experience like this one,” Smith said in a statement shared with Rolling Stone.

Pain has dubbed those vocalists the TwoCity Chorus since recording “To Be Free.” Its membership has changed, now featuring 24 voices. But 13 of the original 22 people on the recording of “To Be Free” are tied to Philadelphia; eight base their professional lives in New York; and one operates from Dallas.

Leaning heavily on Philadelphia as a pool of potential talent was organic, Pain said.

“Why Philadelphia?” he said. “For me, the question was, ‘Why not Philadelphia?’”

Pain, a second-generation Philly musician feted by a global audience, is a graduate of the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts.

His mother, Carolyn Bolger Payne (Pain is a stage name for her son), long led the Philadelphia Ambassadors Ensemble and Chorale. The Smithsonian Institution’s archival Folkways label recorded Bolger Payne’s rendition of “Precious Lord, Take My Hand,” for the four-CD companion to its 1995 Peabody-winning radio showcase of Black sacred standards.

His father, Oscar Payne, is a bassist who has performed all over the world; he’s been managing director of the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts in South Philly since 2022.

In his younger years, Pain made a deal of sorts with God: If ever he became a famed musical force, Pain prayed, he’d be a “door opener” and hoist others onto his platform.

Prayer answered: Pain appeared as a backing vocalist on Yebba’s Sept. 2021 NPR Tiny Desk Concert. His recorded vocals were played during the Super Bowl LIX opening ceremony; he also helped assemble that choir along with another local artist, Mare, who’s also in TwoCity. And he’s among those serving supporting vocals on Jon Bellion’s latest album, FATHER FIGURE.

Creating TwoCity was partly Pain’s way of fulfilling the promise.

“I wouldn’t look anywhere but my hometown first, because I knew the voices were here,” Pain said. “I knew the talent. I knew the skill.”