Why Sam Smith Doesn't Work: No Star Charisma

• 7:02Tim argues that performers like Sam Smith are just trying to be edgy and get attention, asking why parents let their kids watch if they're concerned.
• 7:17The cartoonish satanic aesthetic—chanting, incense, robes—looks less like genuine ritual and more like Hot Topic fashion worn by the biggest stars in the country.
• 7:48Award shows used to feature one or two people dressed outrageously; now everyone exits a Halloween store, and the escalation has become absurd.
• 8:29Sam Smith started as a normal singer but realized that to get real attention, he'd have to become a Hot Topic character with dog collar, betting on praise for being 'beautiful and brave.'
• 8:55A star has to make people feel inferior in their bones—when you see Beyoncé, you know she's better. With Sam Smith's appearance, people are just confused.
• 9:32The most recent video shows Sam Smith in pasties and what looks like a hospital gown; the look is so chaotic that people can't even parse what he's wearing.
• 9:59People aren't necessarily homophobic or transphobic; they're confused about why a guy who looks like a plumber wears Elizabethan clothing and Victorian house dresses with pasties.
• 10:40Tim says the culture has rotted so thoroughly on both sides that there's no meaningful take left to have about any of this anymore.
• 11:17One side wants increasingly disgusting visuals; the other sees child predation everywhere. Sam Smith is just chasing money, not corrupting kids.
• 11:52Parents can keep their children from watching this. If they can't, they're bad parents—and if kids then dress this way and make millions, so be it.
• 12:29The entire spectacle—people caring that performers jump around in devil costumes at awards shows—has zero meaning and is not worth discussing.

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