Sam Smith

The recent announcement that the National Portrait Gallery has purchased two works by Sonia Boyce and Hew Locke for its collection came as something of a shock. The surprise? The art was actually good. Boyce’s quarterised collage ‘From Someone Else’s Fear Fantasy (A Case Of Mistaken Identity? Well This Is No Bed Of Roses) To Metamorphosis’ (1987), reminiscent of an enlarged and doodled upon set of passport photographs is a complex work of art made better the more attention you give it; Locke’s maximalist approach with the bust ‘Souvenir 17 (Albert Edward, Prince of Wales)’ (2024) may not be to everyone’s taste, but his sculpture is full of humour and pathos.

More than 12 million people watched Sunday night as Sam Smith and Kim Petras performed their award-winning song "Unholy" on the Grammys stage. Smith, a male soul and pop singer who now identifies as nonbinary, fashioned himself as a bulbous Satan, prancing around in latex pants and heeled boots, a bedazzled cane, and a top hat with devil horns. Plenty has been said about Smith's cosplay — and the deterioration of his (their?) appearance since "coming out" — but many glossed over his sidekick, Kim Petras. Petras, thirty, sings the second verse of "Unholy" and spent the Grammys performance locked in a cage. She is signed with Republic Records and has released two albums and an EP called "Slut Pop". The German singer's tracks are rife with sexual imagery.