MUMBAI: Singers Sam Smith and Demi Lovato have teamed up for their latest track "Im ready", in which they address the bravery needed to be vulnerable and accepting of love.
The music video, with an Olympic theme, begins with Smith on a wrestling mat, throwing down their opponent — who turns into a burst of glitter instead of falling to the ground, reports people.com.
Smith and Lovato are joined by several drag performers — RuPaul's Drag Race stars Valentina and Gigi Goode among them -- in the video.
It concludes with Smith and Lovato standing in all-white, medals around their necks, singing the chorus triumphantly from a podium as gymnasts tumble around them.
"I feel like everyone knows Demi because she's so open," Smith told Harper's Bazaar.
"I am enamored by her strength and willingness to tell her story, and also her openness about still not being perfect and still learning in front of everyone."
Smith said they gave this song their all when it came to vocals and intensity. "I'm nervous about the song because the song for me is a song that's reaching. You know what I say when a song's reaching, when it's like you're reaching for the stars in the melody, you're reaching for the stars in all of it," Smith told Apple Music's Zane Lowe.
"It almost sounds a bit musical theatre at times. It feels cheesy at times. And I'm trying to own that because that is a genuine feeling that comes out sometimes in the studio and it's fun. It's really fun to go to that place."
"With us, with me and Demi singing, I know that we're so inspired by those things, those musical theatres (influences)," Smith added. "What people (would call) cheesy (are) places that I go to, that I enjoy going to sometimes. It's about feeling no shame."
Speaking more on the duet, they said: "I think this song really, for me, is about feeling no shame in some of the things that I make because I'm releasing music in a climate where music's really cool a lot of the time. It's really, really cool. And basically one of my inspirations is musical theatre and these types of songs that reach. I think it's me saying that I'm going to reach and it's okay to play around and have these moments without feeling ashamed for being really pop."
(Source: IANS)