Singer Sam Smith is facing criticism for his over-the-top, sexually charged music video, which critics point out is visible to young fans on YouTube.
The 30-year-old U.K.-based performer, who identifies as “non-binary,” just dropped a new video for the single “I’m Not Here To Make Friends,” which is featured on the recently-released album, “Gloria.” The video is rife with sexual imagery, including Smith dancing and wearing pasties while surrounded by scantily clad backup dancers.
There’s also one buzzed-about clip of him being sprayed in the mouth with water that some have interpreted to represent a bodily fluid.
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
“YouTube does not have any age restrictions on Sam Smiths (sic) degrading sexualized 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,” one Twitter account posted alongside a GIF from the music video.
“Sam Smith is a perfect example of what degenerate Hollywood culture does to people. It makes celebrities vulgar, hyper-sexualized and obsessed with wearing their sexuality like a costume and shoving it in everyone’s face,” another account agreed. “And to make matters worse, kids look up to this man!”
“Can I just say I used to love Sam Smith when he made actual music,” a third account echoed. “Since then, he’s become frankly grotesque, cheapened his talent and turned into a complete joke. Why isn’t somebody close to him telling him he looks terrible?”
Smith previously discussed the new album during an interview with CBS Mornings.
“I felt this pressure, that I put on myself mostly, to do that every time and I was like, ‘Okay, this is my ’brand,’ you know, I am ‘this’ and then the arts started to suffer because of that,” Smith said.
He discussed how risky the album was to make. “I think that you can’t blame people for thinking something’s not beautiful sometimes. Some people just didn’t like it, but it was a case where I had to sit there and be like, ‘Wait, maybe you don’t like that because you don’t understand it.'”
“The music industry is just not used to queer artists,” Smith went on.
“I’ve always been very sexual and very open and loved dancing and moving my body and singing and making songs that allow my body to move in the way that it does in front of people is just so exciting,” the “Unholy” singer concluded.