Sam Smith, Demi Lovato Created a Literal Drag Race in "I'm Ready" Music Video

Sara Delgado
·4 min read

If you needed a new bop to dance along to while isolating, look no further because Sam Smith and Demi Lovato have just dropped “I’m Ready,” and it is pure gold — quite literally.

After a week of teasers on social media, the duo finally launched the collaboration as soon as the clocks struck midnight on U.K. soil on April 17 with a technicolor video that, according to the YouTube description, was made with the support of LGBTQ+ organization The Trevor Project.

Sam kicks off the video (and song) in a glammed-up wrestling gym worthy of Netflix’s GLOW. “It's a cold night in my bed in the heat of the summer. I've been waitin' patiently for a beautiful lover,” they sing in the first verse. Continuing the action-heavy scenes, Sam then trades their wrestling singlet get for a voluminous black dress (complete with a matching headpiece) and high heels as they take to the racing track — and they are in some great company with the likes of Gigi Goode, Valentina, and Alok Vaid-Menon (so a literal Drag Race? We see what you did there, Sam.)

“It's so hard when you're with someone. Your heart breaks and it ain't no fun. But I gotta take that risk tonight,” Sam sings in the pre-chorus. “I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready for someone to love me.”

For her part, Demi joins in on the second verse, elegantly perched on the springboard of an Olympic swimming pool and clad in a power suit. “It's a hot night in my head in the chill of the winter. No, I've been lookin' hard for a lover disguised as a sinner,” she sings, opposing Sam’s opening lines.

With disco vibes and Olympic references galore, the video has it all for an anthemic feel-good love song, and Sam completely slays a dance break. Vocals are, as expected from the pair, immaculate and everyone wears a gold medal around their necks by the end.

Speaking about the song’s significance, Sam told Apple Music that it was inspired by their and Demi’s love for musical theater growing up.“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," they said. "It almost sounds a bit musical theater 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. 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 okay to play around and have these moments without feeling ashamed for being really pop, you know?”

Sam also told Apple Music that they've been a fan of Demi's since they were a young teenager. "She brought out that album, what was it called? Unbroken, and with 'Skyscraper.' And just as a sad, queer kid listening to that, going through my own stuff, I felt so connected, as did so many queer people. She's a queer icon," Sam said. "For me, she is this pop star who creates for the love of creating. She's honest ... She's the strongest, most vulnerable, beautiful human. She's my pop star of my life, to be honest."

“I’m Ready” is the first single off Sam’s upcoming third studio album, originally intended to come out in May. Sam posted a postponement note to their Instagram on March 30, explaining their decision to delay its release and sharing they’d be making “some important changes and additions.”

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Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue