Unholy (feat. Kim Petras) (continued)
Sam Smith
There's something almost theatrical about the way this track is constructed — a pulsing, gothic-tinged club production that sounds like a cathedral being repurposed as a disco. The four-on-the-floor kick anchors a bed of minor-key synth strings and ominous chord swells, giving the whole thing a delicious sense of wrongness, like pleasure wrapped in guilt. Sam Smith's voice here isn't the aching falsetto of their ballad work; it's low, deliberate, almost confessional — they're narrating infidelity with the detachment of someone who's already made peace with it. Kim Petras arrives in the chorus like a neon sign flickering to life, her bright, processed pop tone creating a sharp contrast that makes both voices stranger and more interesting together. Lyrically the song maps a secret life — Sunday-morning church versus Saturday-night betrayal — with a knowingly campy edge that keeps it from feeling moralistic in either direction. It arrived in 2022 as a kind of reclamation: mainstream pop rarely gave queer artists this kind of sexually charged darkness to work with. You'd reach for this getting ready to go out, when you want the night to feel like it's carrying a secret.
fast
2020s
dark, polished, theatrical
British-American mainstream pop, queer culture
Pop, Electronic. Dark Pop. provocative, defiant. Opens with low confessional tension and a sense of forbidden pleasure, escalates through the chorus into campy, guilt-free celebration of transgression.. energy 7. fast. danceability 8. valence 6. vocals: low deliberate male narrator contrasted with bright processed female pop, theatrical, confessional. production: gothic minor-key synth strings, four-on-the-floor kick, ominous chord swells, polished pop finish. texture: dark, polished, theatrical. acousticness 1. era: 2020s. British-American mainstream pop, queer culture. getting ready to go out on a Saturday night when you want the evening to feel like it's carrying a secret