Sam Smith, Who We Love | LGBTQ Bopz 🌈🎶

In the 4^th edition of LGBTQ Bopz 🌈🎶 (2023), we highlight the song, “Who We Love” performed by Sam Smith featuring Ed Sheeran.

Be prepared to #SLAY! LGBTQ Bopz 🌈🎶 embraces, highlights, and celebrates singles and tracks by LGBTQIA musicians or allies.  In this column, we provide background and insight into the respective musician(s), as well as analyze + go gaga over the decadent bops being served up.  Furthermore, when the music dictates deeper, more transcendent discussion, we ensure the point is articulated to the fullest.  All styles of music are welcome while the BOPZ can be classics or brand-spanking new. So, without further ado, in the 4^th edition of LGBTQ Bopz 🌈🎶 (2023), we highlight 🎵 “Who We Love” performed by 🎙 Sam Smith featuring 🎙 Ed Sheeran.

🏆 Academy- and Grammy-award winning, nonbinary and genderqueer musician 🎙 Sam Smith concludes their fourth studio album, 💿 Gloria, radiantly with 🎵 “Who We Love” featuring 🎙 Ed Sheeran.  Both Smith and Sheeran’s voices complement each other sublimely. The lyrics are poetic and thoughtful, the expectation from these two songwriters, as well as fellow writers Napes, 🎼 ✍ Fred again.., Johnny McDaid, and Steve Mac, who also produces. “Who We Love” is a a heartwarming closer, characterized by touching inclusivity as opposed to exclusivity – “Yeah, we love who we love.”

“Who We Love” is not explicit in its queerness, but you sense the queer beauty, so to speak. There is something refreshing about this closing cut. When Smith sings, “Colour the empty space / Kiss in a crowded place / Stand in a summer rain,” it feels like the acceptance of same-sex love and relationships – PDA and all. Notably, in the second half of the second verse, the duo sings, “Holding hands in the street / No need to be discreet / Finally feelin’ free.” The chorus certainly confirms this acceptance, and the allyship of Smith’s longtime friend, Sheeran: “It’s not wrong / To want the world for someone / It’s not a feeling you can run from / ‘Cause we love who we love.” All told, 🎵 “Who We Love” is utterly sublime.

🎙 Sam Smith • 💿 Gloria • 🏷 Capitol • 🗓 2023

Sam Smith, “Who We Love”: LGBTQ Bopz 🌈🎶 No. 4 (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner/ The Musical Hype; Capitol; Anna Shvets, Monstera, Polina Tankilevitch, RODNAE Productions, Spencer Cooper, Uriel Mont via Pexels; Jim, Kurious via Pixabay; Hugo Herrera on Unsplash]