While it’s not watching Simone Biles defy gravity or Katie Ledecky glide through the pool like she was born underwater, Sam Smith’s new video might be enough to hold over those jonesing for a dose of Olympics extravaganza. Sam, 27, just released “I’m Ready” — their team-up with Demi Lovato — and it’s everything you’d expect and more. Sam and Demi make a triumphant team as they sing about how they’re “ready for someone” to “love” them — at one point, the dynamic duo even dons Olympian-inspired jumpsuits with first place medals around their necks. We hope the No. 1 medals foreshadow this jam’s ranking on music charts!
This is an anthem for anyone who’s undergone a journey of self-love, and is now “ready” for someone else to join. In one particularly empowering scene, Sam lines up with at the starting blocks and takes off running down the tracks — symbolism for how the singer is ready to take a leap of faith into the mystery that is love.
Oddly, some think Sam teased this collaboration in their video for their song, “To Die For.” The visual included numerous mannequins and one sported Demi’s name on it. At the time, Sam neither confirmed nor denied that they teamed up with Demi, but once the cat was out of the bag, they couldn’t help but happily share how this song came about. “I never doubted that it would work, I think mainly because I’m a student of Demi’s voice probably,” Sam said to Entertainment Tonight Canada through a remote interview. “Growing up listening to her music and singing her music and trying to sing like Demi Lovato, I’ve been training for this moment for a long time. I absolutely adore her. As well as her incredible talent, everything she stands for as a human being is what I believe in and I just adore her. So, I’m so happy it’s worked and I hope this isn’t the last time we sing together.”
SHE HAS ARRIVED
I'm Ready with the incredible @DDLovato https://t.co/7Qvic1gyqz
So much love to Jora Frantzis for creating this beauty 🌈 🥇 #IMREADY pic.twitter.com/kyaEHMeJs2— samsmith (@samsmith) April 16, 2020
“I’d been in contact with Demi for the last few years and before music or anything,” they told ET Canada. “I wanted to reach out to her as a friend and that’s what I did. She came to the studio and she’s in an amazing place. She’s the strongest person I’ve ever known and what she’s gone through is something that I can’t imagine how she’s felt at times. I have struggled myself with loads of mental health issues and watching her journey and her composure through all of this is just so inspiring to me, it really is.”
Demi has detailed this “journey” on her new music. She performed “Anyone” for the first time at the 2020 Grammy Awards at the end of January. At the start of March, she released, “I Love Me.” More recently, she revealed in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar how she’s no longer close with Selena Gomez and that while she wishes him “nothing but the best,” she hasn’t spoken to ex Wilmer Valderrama in “a long time.”