The response to the Sam Smith show proves it: Satanic panic is back

Opinion | Culture Writer

People are baulking in horror at Sam Smith's new sexualised persona – but accusations of ‘satanism' are just another way of expressing prejudice

April 14, 2023 4:39 pm(Updated 5:02 pm)

Sam Smith has had quite the transformation. The singer once known for their soulful voice – who became famous through songs like “Stay With Me” and Disclosure's “Latch”, who used to dress in grey suits and natter politely on Saturday night television – now finds themselves at the centre of a culture war hinging on their performances of their new album, Gloria, which includes the 2022 hit “Unholy”.

It's this song – accompanied by a video of Smith in devil horns at a sex club – that has caused such a stir. Smith came out as gay in 2014 and as non-binary in 2019, and their more recent material has embraced an overt expression of sexuality and queer culture. “Unholy” also features a verse by the German singer Kim Petras, who, in February this year, became the first trans artist to win a Grammy when the track won for Best Pop Group Performance.

Smith's performances of “Unholy” at the Grammys and the Brits were slammed by some for their invocations of the devil: Ofcom received more than 100 complaints about the Brits performance, in which Smith wore black leather fetishwear and a top hat with devil horns. One person tweeted: “You don't have to be super religious to be disturbed by that Sam Smith devil-worshiping performance.” Another: “This performance from Sam Smith is literally a tribute to Satan.”

And now here we are again, following the opening night of Smith's Gloria tour in Sheffield. They have been accused of “Satan-worship”, “the glamorisation of Satan”, “literally praising Satan”. They have been endlessly described as “satanic”, a word that suddenly seems to be thrown around as though we're in the middle ages and everyone goes to confession on Sundays, rather than order stuff off Amazon Prime to be delivered the same day and scroll through the MailOnline. Andrew Tate even chimed in: “Why does he need to literally worship the devil as openly and abhorrently as possible to sing his songs?”

It's not the first time an LGBTQ pop star has been accused of satanic practices in recent years. The American rapper Lil Nas X was lambasted for the music video of his song “Call Me By Your Name”, in which Lil Nas is seduced by the snake in the garden of Eden, slides down a pole to hell and gives Satan a lap dance. When Demi Lovato, who is non-binary, released the album art for their album Holy Fvck last year, in which they lie on a crucifix-shaped bed in a bondage outfit, the ASA banned it in the UK for the offence it might cause to Christians.

This is really an extension of a phenomenon that's been going on for decades. “Satanic panic” arose in the 1980s out of a conspiracy theory that there was ritual abuse taking place across the US in the name of Satan. Though the conspiracy about a satanic cult was debunked by the US government in 1992, satanic panic continued to show up. Heavy metal, Dungeons & Dragons and Harry Potter were all thought to be corrupting teens with their Satan-adjacent or occult associations. Amanda Knox, who was wrongly convicted of murdering her flatmate in 2007, was described by a prosecuting lawyer as “Lucifer-like, satanic, demonic”; now, the far-right movement QAnon is predicated on the idea that a group of satanic paedophiles conspired against Donald Trump during his time in office.

Child abuse is often at the heart of fears around Satan-worship – and it's the same for Sam Smith. People are appalled that the concert had no age restriction, and at photos of a young girl meeting Smith after the show. At a glance, you can understand why the videos circulating seem child-inappropriate. Smith is wearing nipple tassels, a sequinned thong, fishnet tights and thigh high boots, grinding and licking suggestively. Yet it is difficult to imagine such protestations at similar videos – of which there are many – of female pop stars in similarly skimpy outfits doing similarly suggestive dance moves. There may be slut-shaming, there may be disapproval – but the ire directed at Smith is so clearly rooted in homophobia.

Most of the people describing Smith as “satanic” have never given a second thought to Christianity or Satan – but when they feel threatened by something, they are happy to weaponise it and jump on the bandwagon. “Fallen completely into wokeness”, one Twitter user wrote, as though “wokeness” were the same as the depths of hell.