Jamaicans Have Mixed Reactions To Koffee’s Performance In Sam Smith’s ‘Gimme’ Video
The music video for Sam Smith’s new single Gimme with Koffee and Jessie Reyez landed on Friday (January 13), and Jamaican fans have some thoughts on the spectacle.
Smith, Koffee, and Reyez gathered in New York City to shoot the video for the clubby Dancehall banger with Jamaican-born, Brooklyn-based director Jeano Edwards.
In the video, the cameras follow Smith and Reyez into an underground gay club where they join Koffee already inside enjoying the company of a few female friends. It’s clearly a place to let loose and be yourself without apology.
However, for many Jamaicans, the visuals were just too much. Smith is seen wearing provocative attire, leaving his derriere exposed, as other men kiss and seductively dance together. Though Koffee’s performance is quite chill among the wild bunch, she appears to be enjoying the vibe and atmosphere.
“Rasta a really a do dis!! She a fashion rasta!! Wow!! Mixed feelings..!! 🤔!!! Really?,” commented Instagram user @islandonwheels.
“Could never be Jah Pinckney and live like this lava splash 🔥🔥🔥. All of this goes against Jah kingdom,” another agreed.
Several fans remarked that the Lockdown singer had never outright identified as Rastafarian. “She been said she not rastafarian so what now?” one person responded.
Others celebrated the music and the positive vibe in the music video.
“🙌👏 Yes Koffee, mi support dis- love has no gender, compassion has no religion. Enough of the homophobic nonsense 🇯🇲,” commented one fan.
Another added, “Yes she is who she is so let her be that not everything is about your culture 👋respectfully, positive energy only 🙌.”
“The camera should have been lowered a little when jesse was throwing it on koffee the shot is way too high like I’m tryna see smth,” wrote @penkostephens.
But more critics lamented that the Toast singer had rather ‘sold her soul.’
“Nooooooo this is sad 😢 not Koffee. Shame she sold her soul 😓😩,” said one commenter.
“How much was your soul worth? Better you stayed pure. You were killing it in your own. Respect to all the Jamaican artists keeping it real! Now they own you 🔥,” said another.
Several people encouraged the 22-year-old artist born Mikayla Victoria Simpson to ignore the noise and just focus on producing good music.
“Here come the Homophobic Jamaicans lol dont listen to em Koffee gwann do yuh ting for di queer yute dem,” one supporter said.
“Respect! Your music is so 🔥 But damn. So much judgement coming from these folks in the comments. Sign of the times. Can’t escape it now. Which god made them the authority? You go get it! Nevermind the haters. They always in the background,” another said.
Though Koffee has never spoken on the matter, some argued that the singer’s countrymen were pretending to be oblivious to her sexuality this whole time.
“Why are Jamaicans acting as if they were clueless about Koffee?? Damn. Love her 💜,” said one person.
Another agreed, “Why is everyone acting so surprised. She’s been the same Koffee y’all supported from the start. It’s just now that she not hiding it but don’t act like y’all didn’t know from the start?”
“I’m actually kinda feeling this ngl. The only reason people are turning their nose up at it is because they’re queer. Like y’all didn’t already know Koffee was LGBTQ. It’s only when it’s a man they have an issue. People be gay, get over it 🙄,” one person said.
Upon the song’s release on Wednesday, Smith described the track as “filth!”
“I’m a sexual person, I like sex. It’s something I’m teaching myself to not be ashamed of,” he said.
The Unholy singer came out as non-binary in 2019, stating, “I’m not male or female, I think I flow somewhere in between. It’s all on the spectrum.”
He added that he had always resented being “feminine in many ways” and described being non-binary as being “your own special creation”. Non-binary people don’t identify as either male or female and use the pronouns ‘they’ or ‘them’ instead of ‘he’ or ‘she.’
Meanwhile, Jamaican music producer Anju Blaxx, who was the mastermind behind Gimme’s 90s-style Dancehall beat, alongside co-producers Stargate and Jimmy Napes, defended himself for being a part of the project.
“I have not met Sam Smith in person, but nobody can judge me for who I work with or work on productions for. I do music to do music. Music has no face or gender. There is also no timing to music. That’s my approach and I’m making music with the intention to leave my mark on whatever project my creativity is put into,” he told the Jamaica Star.
The song, which was inspired by a wild night that Smith and Reyez had during a Jamaican trip, was also produced by Blaxx on the island.
Gimme is from the album Gloria, Sam Smith’s fourth studio album, which will be released on January 27 via Capitol Records.