Morrissey, the former The Smiths singer now battling his estranged label Capitol Records over the mothballed release of his new solo album, Bonfire of Teenagers, seemingly has a problem with what he called the “satanism” of pop star Sam Smith.
Earlier this month, Smith’s hit with the singer Kim Petras, “Unholy,” won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards. There, the pair performed the song about infidelity in a fire-and-brimstone-themed production that saw Smith don a red hat with devil horns as Petras sang from inside a cage.
The devilish performance triggered outrage and FCC complaints, according to TMZ and Yahoo!, over the risque display some suggested was overtly diabolical.
“Unholy” is a Capitol/EMI release, so Morrissey, who seems to land on the conservative side of things lately, per reports, took the opportunity to complain about the “satanism” and put out a plea for his album.
A Feb. 13 update on Morrissey’s website reads, “Capitol Records (Los Angeles) proudly promotes Sam Smith’s ‘satanism’; yet they consider the honest truth of Morrissey’s factual ‘Bonfire of Teenagers’ to be their biggest threat and they will not release it despite their contractual obligation and promise to do so.”
The heading of the post, titled “BONFIRE OF TEENAGERS, RIP,” shows the apparent album artwork of the contended Morrissey effort followed by the text “—–VS—–” and the Capitol Records logo.
Bonfire of Teenagers was first announced in May 2021 before being given a tentative release date of February 2023. However, another recent update from Morrissey put its release into question.
“Capitol Records (Los Angeles) will not, after all, release Morrissey’s 2021 album ‘Bonfire of Teenagers,'” a Feb 7. post reads. “At the same time, Capitol Records (Los Angeles) are holding on to the album.”
It continues, “Although Morrissey officially signed … there has been no mention of Morrissey on Capitol’s website or on their Artists roster. Morrissey has said that although he does not believe that Capitol Records … signed ‘Bonfire of Teenagers’ in order to sabotage it, he is quickly coming around to that belief.”
Last year, Morrissey canceled a concert in Los Angeles after playing for just 30 minutes. See Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy” music video below. Watch their Grammys performance at this link.
Sam Smith + Kim Petras “Unholy” (Video)
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