Whatever else this song may be, it’s still art. “Unholy” is strategically marketed to offend the right people by celebrating irreverence, sex-positivity, and LGBTQ practice. Now that would have taken some real courage! We cannot say it’s just orchestrated outrage, because if that’s all they wanted, they could have gotten a bigger response by putting Sam Smith in blackface with Kim Petras in a MAGA hat. I just don’t think this song is reducible entirely to a marketing ploy. Meanwhile, we come off looking like puritanical luddites with no taste in music.ĭon’t get me wrong, I think that marketing strategy is well underway.
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It’s supposed to drive us to anger-blogging on social media, giving it free publicity at our expense. It’s supposed to upset people like you and me.
And it does all that with a wink and a smirk. It’s an affront to Christianity, traditional marriage, monogamy, binary gender, heteronormativity, chastity, modesty. Sure, controversy draws crowds, but this song is more than that.
It would be too simplistic to dismiss this song as a gimmick, as mere shock-value. This gesture connotes a blasphemous kind of sexual sacrament. The dance numbers are choreographed sexcapades punctuated by the Catholic sign of the cross (i.e., crossing oneself). It displays fire shows, hellish lighting, gender-bending kink, and burlesque aesthetics. It’s been said that “all publicity, is good publicity.” By that measure, this song does not disappoint. It has the feel of choreographed controversy, like a well-rehearsed dance number between left-wing libertines and right-wing moralists. Is this just a marketing ploy?īehind the garish lights and red leather, it’s easy to see the machinations of marketing strategists. Instead, we can practice discernment and draw from it ministry insights into our cultural milieu. And we do well not to downplay or exaggerate it. Lastly, we’ll ask what wisdom we can glean from this song. In answering those three questions, we’ll cover a fourth angle, LGBTQ ideology. Second, we’ll address whether it’s just art. First, we’ll ask whether this is just an elaborate marketing ploy. We’ll consider some of the more obvious ones here. With all the hype surrounding this song, it invites critique from several angles. Right wing pundits aired their grievances (rightfully so), as the left sang its praises, making sure to point out that Sam Smith is gay and gender queer, and Kim Petras is a transgender woman (male identifying as a woman). Scrolling through social media, one can see a predictable partisan divide. This song has all the subtly of a jet engine. Pyrotechnics and red lighting create a hellish ambiance, as gender-bending demon dancers worship a devil-horned Sam Smith.
Kim Petras swoons and sings in a stripper cage. At the Grammys, the story is streamlined. The story ends with the husband dying for his sins in a car crash, as the wife sheds her coat and wig to reveal she’s really a male stripper. The dancers crowding and piling on top of each other rub and writhe in ecstasy.Īllusions to kink and orgies abound. In the video, the “Body Shop” translates into a speak-easy strip club in the backroom of an auto-body garage. Visually, the music video and live Grammy performance portray a kind of satanic drag cabaret, with the lead singers Sam Smith and Kim Petras as Satan and a stripper, respectively. One philandering husband neglects his wife and kids at home, sneaking out to a gender-bending strip club - “Body Shop.” Sung from the perspectives of the club’s prostitutes, the story is laced with luxury name brands, product shots for condoms, and vivid descriptions of sexual deviance. Its Middle Eastern lilt and thumping rhythm lend a dark allure, as the lyrics spin a sordid tale of excess and adultery.
Musically, it feels a bit like R&B meets belly dancing. It has more than a hundred million views and earned a Grammy for “Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.” If you watched the 2023 Grammys, then you probably saw Sam Smith and Kim Petras’s blasphemous pop hypnotic hit “Unholy.” This song has been buzzing.
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