Sam Smith says original song with Kim Petras was scrapped: ‘It didn’t feel right’
Sam Smith has shared more details about the creative process of making their hit single, Unholy, with Kim Petras. Speaking on the ‘Michelle Visage’s Rulebreakers‘ podcast, the singer first opened up about how they discovered the term ‘non-binary’, immediately feeling a connection to the word. “I always felt that way… And when I found the words, I can’t believe how late I found the words, like 25/26, someone told me about this thing called non-binary and I thought, this is a place where I can exist.
And it was magical” they told Drag Race UK judge Michelle Visage. “My inner peace was just still for the first time in years.
It was incredible.” Smith also recalled that they found the gender binary confusing and unnecessary even as a child. “I remember going to where the changing rooms are and suddenly, your life splits into these two rooms; the male and female changing room,” they explained. “And I remember that moment, even though I was so young, I remember feeling this is just not right… And that I wasn’t a man.” They also challenged controversy around they/them pronouns: “[It] upsets me is we all learn supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, come on we can learn they/them!” The Love Me More singer went on to talk about the difficulty of how common gendered language is. “Words like ‘bro’ and ‘man’, stuff like that, they were even worse,” Smith continued. “Because it’s not just he/him, it’s so many other words that come with that.” Responding to this, Michelle agreed and added: “How you prefer to be addressed that is your call.
And I think people are just afraid of the unknown. They just don’t understand that you being able to identify as they/them gives you the ok in life to be who you are.
