Sam Smith has spoken about their raunchy new music video amid the public backlash.
In case you’ve not yet seen it, the singer caused a bit of a stir with the video for their latest track 'I'm Not Here to Make Friends'. You can see Smith talk about the video here:
The video, which showcases Smith in a variety of revealing outfits as well as scantily clad dancers wearing corsets and suspenders, has sparked a debate about age restrictions on music videos.
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Speaking about the song - and its headline grabbing video - on The Graham Norton Show, Smith revealed that the inspiration for the track actually came from a date, explaining: “I went on a date with this guy and he just… people friend-zone me a lot on dates.
“And the next day I went into the studio and I was, like, I’m sick of, like, I’ve got enough friends. I don’t need any more friends.”
Talking about the video, Smith added: “Basically it’s set in a castle. It’s like Henry VIII’s castle.”
They also reassured viewers that: “Nothing seedy went on, guys. It wasn’t weird.”
Surprisingly, Smith also revealed that the castle hadn’t been closed during filming, but that other visitors had no idea what was going on behind the closed doors.
Smith explained: “Yeah, they had Christmas parties [going on]. They were working around us. They had no idea what was going on in the rooms.”
They later joked that 'weirder things had happened in that castle'.
Shortly after the video was released, it was met with a backlash from some viewers, who disagreed with its sexualised imagery.
In a post on Twitter one person said: "No f***ing need, it's blatant tacky sexualised bulls**t. As a mum of teenagers I'm sick of seeing people using s**t like this to sell their music.
"I would be saying this about anyone who put out a video like this.
"It's not about #SamSmith gender, I don't care about their gender."
Another said: "I can’t believe kids look up to @samsmith. This s**t should be banned on YouTube.”
But Smith is not at all bothered by the backlash their video has caused, telling Norton it even lead to one of their favourite headlines: 'Sam Smith Horrifies OAPs' - quite a claim to fame.
And in a recent post on Twitter, Smith shared a snap of themselves wearing a particularly OTT black feathered outfit - complete with a whopper of a headdress - and wrote: “Never too much.”
Claire Reid