Unholy (feat. Sam Smith)
Kim Petras
"Unholy" arrived in 2022 like a signal flare from pop's darker continent, ascending to global commercial dominance through a sound that refuses comfort. The production built by ILYA and others layers industrial percussion, dissonant bass tones, and cabaret-adjacent theatrical flourishes into something genuinely unsettling — the rhythm is relentless but syncopated in a way that keeps the listener off balance. Kim Petras and Sam Smith trade verses and harmonies within a narrative of desire and transgression, their voices functioning as contrasts: Smith's smoky baritone against Petras' razor-precise pop delivery creates a sonic argument between earthiness and artifice. The lyrical core is a piece of gossip, a story about the gap between public respectability and private appetites, told without moral judgment but with a relishing that's its own kind of commentary. Smith's performance during their Saturday Night Live debut, and later the Grammy performance — gold chains, leather, a reimagined vision of transgression — became cultural touchstones. The song made Petras the first openly trans woman to win a Grammy in a major category when it claimed Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. You put this on when you want to feel a little dangerous, in a nightclub or in your car alone, and you let the bass make the decision for you.
fast
2020s
dark, dense, unsettling
British-American pop, LGBTQ+ pop
Pop, Electronic. Dark Pop. defiant, playful. Maintains a relentless, discomfiting tension throughout — desire and transgression held in deliberate suspension without moral resolution.. energy 8. fast. danceability 8. valence 6. vocals: contrasting male/female duet, smoky baritone versus razor-precise pop delivery. production: industrial percussion, dissonant bass, cabaret theatrical flourishes, syncopated groove. texture: dark, dense, unsettling. acousticness 1. era: 2020s. British-American pop, LGBTQ+ pop. In a nightclub or alone in your car when you want to feel a little dangerous and let the bass make the decision.