Sam Smith released their new album, Gloria, on Friday, and dropped a new music video. It’s for the song “I’m Not Here To Make Friends.”
Perhaps emboldened by the huge success of their number one hit “Unholy” with Kim Petras, Smith’s latest video is a joyous celebration of queerness and feeling comfortable within one’s own skin.
Check it out below.
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Given the song (a disco-tinged dance number made in collaboration with Calvin Harris) is called “I’m Not Here To Make Friends”, it’s clear Smith is no longer prepared to be anything other than their real self, no matter what other people might think.
And it seems the video has certainly triggered some.
One British broadcaster, Dominique Samuels, led the chorus of disapproval. She accused Smith of “wearing their sexuality like a costume and shoving it in everyone’s face.” She was particularly horrified that kids might be influenced by Smith.
Sam Smith is a perfect example of what degenerate Hollywood culture does to people.
It makes celebrities vulgar, hyper-sexualised and obsessed with wearing their sexuality like a costume and shoving it in everyone’s face.
And to make matters worse, kids look up to this man! pic.twitter.com/0xpUryCl3a
— Dominique Samuels (@Dominiquetaegon) January 28, 2023
Samuels was not alone in her criticism.
YouTube does not have any age restrictions on Sam Smiths degrading sexualised new music video.
5 year olds can search this up and watch it with no content restrictions!
Sam Smith, this is not art. This is not trendy. This is not empowering. This is monstrous! #SamSmith pic.twitter.com/NoDec6rtEE
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) January 28, 2023
This was followed this morning by a live debate on the breakfast TV show Good Morning Britain about Smith’s new promo. One commentator said it represented a shift that is “not good for society”.
Sam Smith’s latest music video has caused controversy online, as social media called it ‘vulgar and hyper-sexualised’. However, others have called the video empowering as a non-binary person is celebrating their body.
Is the video empowering or offensive? pic.twitter.com/z2IZgr2dvP
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) January 30, 2023
However, another commentator praised Smith and said they were receiving criticism primarily because they’re nonbinary. Many other artists, such as Madonna and Miley Cyrus, have made sexually suggestive videos without prompting breakfast TV debates.
‘Madonna’s done that and it wasn’t on the TV in the morning, people weren’t debating it in the same way.’
Shivani Dave says other music artists have released similar content before and Sam Smith is not the first. pic.twitter.com/LX9sWobwmr
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) January 30, 2023
Fatphobia and transphobia
Online, many seemed to agree with the latter point…
I was going to ask “what has sam smith done to deserve this amount of hate directed at them” but it’s quite literally that they’re queer and fat isn’t it. that’s what it comes down to
— das 🌿 (@das_penman) January 29, 2023
My mum showed me Aliens when I was 7, I don’t think a Sam Smith video is gonna destroy the lives of kids.
— Sooz Kempner🐀 (@SoozUK) January 29, 2023
So women artists can make explicit music videos, as can straight men, for decades there can basically be soft porn in mainstream music & that’s all harmless hetty fun but now Sam Smith does it & suddenly it’s perverted grooming filth. HELLO HOMOPHOBIA & TRANSPHOBIA!
— Dr Finn Mackay Adult Human Queermale (@Finn_Mackay) January 29, 2023
Sex has always been a running theme in modern pop music, and music videos often flaunt it.
But Sam Smith has made the criminal offence of being a) queer and b) not skinny, and in an increasingly anti-LGBTQ culture, that can’t be tolerated.
— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) January 30, 2023
Others pointed out that controversial pop performances are nothing new…
All this Pearl clutching over Sam Smith’s latest video, reminds me of when Divine appeared on TOTP back in 1984, & The Bigots & UK Media lost their f*cking minds. pic.twitter.com/wgVFaZNzAs
— Mikey Walsh (@thatbloodyMikey) January 28, 2023
If Sam Smith video upsets you how came you said nowt of the 15yrs of the Pussycat Dolls pic.twitter.com/uAQ8hjkjsd
— Janey Godley (@JaneyGodley) January 29, 2023
Saw the Sam Smith video. As a SWM in my mid-thirties, I thought it was grand. Just ‘Relax’ for the TikTok generation. Plus don’t think your kids are thick. They know, they’re not arsed.
The fact it’s upset a million Helen Lovejoy’s is wonderful. pic.twitter.com/rZiLKD5l7o
— Ash Preston (@TheAshPreston) January 30, 2023
Related: Sam Smith’s latest look brings out the trolls as “Unholy” continues to dominate the charts
And others just praised Smith’s embrace of their identity and the transformative journey they’ve been on since their start in the music business…
Sam Smith Sam Smith
2014-2018 2019-2023 pic.twitter.com/xawJc0EXep— gil (@groupiexcx) January 27, 2023
Stream Gloria on all streaming platforms now.
Neoprene
Seems like all her songs have that annoying, synthesized sound. Can she actually sing?
Den
It really is not hard to find Smith’s acoustic covers on YouTube or his great duet with Brandi Carlile. Smith is very skilled, even if some of the material they do is not particularly compelling musically. There are no modern pop artists who eschew filtering and pitch correction on recordings and often in concert. If you want to hear unmanipiulated voices you need to listen to folk, blues and americana/roots music.
LumpyPillows
Great voice.
thedrrg
Does not sound like it. The song is terrible…why not distract with beautiful, sexy people? (Someone asked.)
MidCenturyQueen
Don’t know if you are some troll, but it is THEY and yes, they can sing. Loudly and quite well. Much applause for Sam. They are now free. And Stop. You won’t win.
Diplomat
Now now. Stick with correct pronoun usage. He is not more than one dude. He is not a they. Don’t force it. You won’t win.
Other than Sam’s language weirdness he is destined to be a nb superstar. He’s great. The vids are fab and he’s a lovely lovable guy with an incredible future. Just go with it.
BigJohnSF
I cannot be bothered to enable his narcissism. However, he is a great pop singer.
LumpyPillows
I like the video. Music videos are the exact right place to push envelopes.
bachy
The one thing I like about our era’s explosion of gender identities is that it has given people a language with which to distinguish themselves from a perhaps overly simplistic and restrictive, masculine vs feminine binary. Human sexuality and gender has always been expressed as a spectrum, whether we had the words for it or not. And it is our artists who add to the new nomenclature with visuals and voices and dances and styles and beats. Do I think some people are going to be dressing and acting like Sam Smith after seeing. these videos? Yes, some people probably will. But I think his art will mainly serve as a gesture of freedom and joy that most of his fans will recognize and appreciate as just another beautiful facet of the human spirit in all of us.
LumpyPillows
I agree. People should be free to be who they are and express themselves freely. Sexuality isn’t a straight jacket. I think it very much is about the moment. I’m gay, but I’ve been surprised how sex has not fallen into specific limitations that I once believed existed. Sam is having fun – he’s playing with fashion and erotica. Good for Sam. This is what art is supposed to do.
I don’t think any of it has anything to do with these new genders though. I think that’s where this goes off the rails. There are definitely social constructs associated with gender. They do need to be pushed and challenged. I just do not get how people then take the jump that gender is a social construct. I mean no disrespect, but I do think it is taking a good idea about challenging gender norms and confusing it with actual gender.
bachy
@Lumpy: I am surprised by how often I resonate with your perceptions. I suppose I should refer to “so-called gender identities.” A college friend in gender studies told me that in the previous era, there were 3 expressions to choose from: masculine, feminine or androgynous. These 3 are currently being fragmented and reformulated into over 50 options. I like to think of them as a means of speaking about how the individual experiences/interprets gender; ie, how masculine, feminine, androgynous, agender, transgender etc one feels oneself to be. But I generally consider them fleeting, psycho-social and politicized interpretations and don’t confuse them with the infinitely more stable biological sex.
LumpyPillows
bachy, we do have some interesting discussions. I do hope this phase we are going through on gender rationalizes itself before we explode. It shouldn’t be this difficult, but none of this ever is. I do see some light at the end of the tunnel.
UlfRaynor
I agree with you both on some issues. The biggest issue I take with modern progressives is this totalitarian insistence that gender is a social construct.
From my perspective, that is the most transphobic thing a person can say.
Most trans people I’ve talked to, say pretty much the same thing most gay people do, that they’ve always been that way, that it is innate to who they are. As a gay man I can appreciate that and run with it.
But, every single gender studies nutcase I’ve ever encountered insist that gender is a social construct.
By insisting that it is, they are completely dismissing that innateness and reducing it to a choice made due to socio/environmental development.
That’s the same kind of nonsense I’ve heard from religious zealots about gay people.
LumpyPillows
@ulfraynor I’ve also believed that too. Non-binary undermines transgender people especially. The non-binary and gender is a social construct has become a blind dogma for which disagreement is penalized by vindictive and vile attack…usually by straight people.
Den
So definitely a lot of filtering for tonal quality (which is unfortunately the style these days) on the recording, but not a whole lot of pitch correction except on a few of the runs. And Smith needs neither of those things as his first album made clear. Anyone who believes he cannot sing probably thinks Madonna can! Sadly though the song is little more than a slightly better than average homage to disco, more humorous than anything else. The video however is a hoot, clearly made for laughs. Smith is no sex symbol and is well aware of it, and the video owes more to Mae West and Bette Midler than Madonna or Miley.
LumpyPillows
Agreed.
Moritz
So sad to see his talent wasted in such a tacky video. David Bowie and Elton John made great strides with their gender bending personae, but this video makes Sam look so unattractive. It is great to feel comfortable in your own skin, that doesn’t mean that anyone else would enjoy seeing this over-the-top mess.
Get back to the music Sam, that is where you truly shine through.
GlobeTrotter
Sam Smith used to be such a handsome guy until those female hormones he’s taking wrecked his physique, made his face puffy, padded his hips and thighs, etc. I don’t mean to sound unkind, but was it really his goal to change from a handsome young man to an obese middle-aged woman?
Den
Smith has a natural excess of estrogen, which is not terribly uncommon in men. He has spoken openly about having liposuction at an early age to deal with both a feminized body and developing “manboobs”. He has also talked about the difficulty he had maintaining a “many” physique and presentation. He puts on weight where women tend to put on weight. What you are seeing now is apparently what is natural for him.
If you have seen or heard him say he is taking female hormones, provide a link to that source.
And the video is clearly played for humor (if nothing else made that clear, the pasties should have). He is not presenting himself as a sexpot.
bachy
@Den: agree with all your points except “He is not presenting himself as a sexpot.” I have to tell you that here in LA there is a huge and enthusiastic audience for feminized males. They tend to be masculine males who find femininity (in both women and men) sexually exciting. I suspect that it is largely how the homosexual impulse is expressed in otherwise heterosexual males. As one heteroflexible friend puts it, “I’m not into men but I would probably wanna f_ck Ronan Farrow.”
inbama
It’s just “Drag Race” for chubby-chasers.
At least the dancers are attractive.
rover4x
he just a chubby bear who likes to wear women’s clothing, we all have friends or friend of a friend who sometimes likes to being in drag. i call it fetish. sorry, he looks more like a clown and does not represent our queer community and as a queer i’m embarrassed for him.
still_onthemark
There are so many fat young people now, they do need a role model! Although they shouldn’t try hanging from a chandelier like Sam.
bachy
You do have a point. Thicc kids need social roles other than “someone who has failed to be thin.”
mastik8
Well, the video is doing exactly what it was supposed to do – generate interest.
LumpyPillows
Bingo.
MidCenturyQueen
LOL – what a bunch of hateful bitches. Fat, obese, fem, and calling Sam by an incorrect pronoun. Love these keyboard critics. Sam sings about this in the first song on the release. So glad they are over being judged by the likes of some of you JK Rowling acolytes.
LumpyPillows
I was on board until you made that hard left turn into the guard rail with the JK Rowling snipe. The analogy is a fail. You may disagree with women who are very concerned about the intersection of trans women and women’s spaces, but you should respect their concerns. People like you have thrown trans rights into the tank in the UK.
Diplomat
Yeah no they them, no dicks in women’s dressing rooms. Sanity will prevail. Push for your own dressing rooms. You’re a different sexual race unto yourselves. Own it. Love it accept it. Then do the rational thing: stop calling yourselves real women; start a movement to get your own dressing rooms; and remember even though you have the opposite brain than your body, we don’t get it either. We all need to have alot of patience.
Diplomat
PS and I’m a hardcore Democrat.
decampbell
The song is trash but the costumes are glorious.
JTinToronto
Won’t be watching that video ever again.
nm4047
If your songs isn’t going to resonate on it’s own merit(s) then you need another angle to gain traction.
johncp56
to all the haters it is music video I like it and his voice wyes it is adult themed, so why such hate from people like Dominique Samuels!, i wont read more she made me mad if you do not like it turn the channel , also about the children some songs are adults like some parents do adult things, so it is people like Dominique Samuels!! that gets us hurt shaming an artists work, and!! young children should not have free access tio everything that is on you adults!!!!!
james7
Well, wearing ridiculous costumes worked for Gaga, but she had the voice to back it up after the outrageous presentation got her the attention; and then she stopped being ridiculous and became a great singer. Maybe that can happen to Sam; but im kinda skeptical.
RSC
This video did what it is supposed to do, entertain. The only buttheads it offends are those who think hate, prejudice, and homophobia is a virtue. You can watch drag on straight TV any time you want, and not at all if you choose not to.
Oh, and by the way, if you think videos or drag shows, can turn your kids gay, your too stupid to be running around unsupervised.
JustMuscles1
It’s just too contrived!