Creative lessons from Sam Smith

These are some questions I’m asking myself having witnessed Sam’s Gloria masterpiece on London's O2 Arena stage.

I’d like to perform on a gigantic golden nude statue please

Hello you.

I hope your week has been one of abundance, joy and sunshine. (I actually have sunglasses on as I write this by the window!)

I’ve previously written about one of my favourite things; pop concerts. And this week I went to an audacious, emotional, beautiful, sexy and wonderful one. Sam Smith’s Gloria Tour. (It’s an 11/10 from me, Sam!) Spoilers coming if you have tickets.

I went purely for the entertainment, to be immersed in their world of queer joy for 90 minutes. But I left the arena full of new ideas, creative inspiration and learnings from an artist at work.

These are some questions I’m asking myself having witnessed Sam’s masterpiece on stage.

What would I write if I wasn’t focused on ‘pleasing’?

Sam is not self-editing. At least that’s how it felt watching them perform.

Am I putting too much focus onto how the reader will react to my words? Is this causing a creative block? Short answer = yes.

Sam has inspired me to try and take the focus off the external and move it back to the art itself.

I wrote in my journal this morning. Create the art and perhaps the audience will come along with you. And maybe some will fall away. Maybe that’s what we want as artists.

It’s not about quantity. It’s about connection.

(Side note. We also saw the brilliant Cat Burns supporting. How good is her song people pleaser?)

How can I bring play back into my creativity?

This show was FUN. So much fun. Sam and their friends looked like they were having the time of their lives up there.

It’s got me thinking. My novel is not fun anymore. It’s a slog, it’s a chore.

Where has the play gone?

Thanks to Sam, I’m going to think about how I can PLAAAAY with my story. This is my permission slip to HAVE FUN with it.

Experimentation. Do things that surprise yourself and surprise others. Try not to put too many limitations on your art. 

What if I just let myself dance and play and, as Sam encouraged us to do, let my inner freak out!?

Am I giving myself permission to evolve?

I am not the same person I was ten years ago, three years ago, even a few months ago. So of course, I’m not the same writer.

It’s time to finish this project and move onto the new things that my heart is calling me to write.

I loved seeing Sam pay homage to their earlier music and then evolve before our eyes into who they are today as their show built to its sexual, unapologetic, fireball of a climax. (Unholy, obv)

I will be a writer and creative for the rest of my life. I don’t have to stay in one lane. I can keep evolving and growing as an artist as I evolve and grow as a person.

 Just because I start out in one ‘genre’ doesn’t mean I have to stay there for life.

I’m just so inspired to see how Sam is role modelling this.

What am I scared to write about? How can I be more courageous?

Courage and vulnerability. These two were in full flow baby!

I can learn about being courageous. Creating art for you and for your community. Don’t focus on creating art for ‘everyone’.

The part of the show where I was on the edge of my seat, fully present in a moment was during Sam’s spine-tingling cover of Kissing You. They rose onto the stage in a billowing bright green dress, looking like a Tudor queen. They had a beautiful gold halo tiara around their head. It was only when the camera zoomed in close onto the headpiece, that we could read its glittering letters. Brianna Ghey.

A stunning tribute to a beautiful young girl who was violently taken from this earth too soon. RIP Brianna.

Throughout Sam’s show they took us to all these different emotional places. That is what art can do. Art isn’t binary either. Sam didn’t have to choose whether to be serious or fun, slow or fast, demure or raunchy. They moved us along from one feeling to the next, taking us on a journey.

Our art can be whatever we want it to be.

We don’t have to sit in one box.

Does any of this resonate with you? I’d love to hear more if so.

I’ll leave you with some words from Sam, taken from a GQ interview (which I’d v highly recommend reading here.)

“Art is not a competition…That’s one of the main reasons why I got into this world. I hate games. I never enjoyed sport. I hate the thought of losing. I’m very competitive, so I never enjoyed it. And that’s why I got into art because it was just this free flowing of expression. As soon as I start to feel that heat of the competition, I turn the other way.”

The studio becomes a place of transformation and unburdening. “Music is healing to me. Walking into a room feeling tense and heavy with an emotion, and you get it out – into something – and you walk out the room and you’ve captured it forever, and there’s a weight off your shoulders.”

P.S Please look at these costumes, though!