In modern times, interpersonal relationships have gone from being situations of mutual affection and collaboration to even feeling like tasks that are difficult to carry out and maintain. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that digitization has managed to get the best of us in a surprising number of aspects of our lives. And of course, relationships of this type are more than included in that list.

This ability to be in constant contact with those around us has also affected us, both positively and negatively. We have become beings that cannot healthily bear loneliness and therefore we always seek to be in the company of someone, regardless of whether this person is a total stranger.

Sam Smith explores all those aspects of personal relationships alongside the lyrics and video for his new song ‘Dancing With a Stranger’. In it, he takes us on a journey that teaches us the different aspects and consequences that a relationship in which one feels abandonment on the part of the couple can bring. In addition, together with Normani, he shows us the extremes that can be gone to avoid feeling lonely nowadays.

The music video for this song opens with different settings where, despite being beautiful places, they’re extremely empty, all of which give a feeling of overwhelming loneliness. We also find images of different natural elements that can represent the man and the woman in a relationship. Finally, we can see Sam Smith in what appears to be a large house but, like the initial images, gives an indescribable feeling of loneliness. All these visuals serve to give the viewer an initial idea of ​​the song’s theme, loneliness. This is clear even before the first line of the song begins.

The opening line of the song, “I don’t want to be alone tonight,” is direct and places the viewer in the point of view of Sam Smith. Then what appears to be a constant switch between introspection and exposition continues, as if he is talking to us and himself at the same time. In this ‘conversation’ he lets us know that he had a past relationship that he still cannot completely overcome and that it didn’t work out thanks to actions by his ex-partner. As he recalls the different moments of the relationship, he begins to feel the loneliness of his situation and refuses to face it. All this is accompanied by many visuals and angles of Smith, where, as in the beginning, he is seen alone in different areas of the house.

After this initial presentation, Smith begins to ask questions and explain what he needs at that moment from a partner. By doing this, the artist is dedicated to demonstrating his needs and vulnerabilities when it comes to engagement, be it by way of exhibition or petition. Then he makes it clear to us that he knows what the solution is to avoid that undoubted loneliness that’s affecting him at the moment. However, he is not seen or heard enthusiastic or even convinced of the idea possibly because he still has not gotten over the past relationship. In the video, he can be seen sitting in front of a digital image projected in front of him of an unknown person.

As he exposes his desire for companionship, Smith changes the person in his image, presumably being the various ‘strangers’ that he has as his option to appease his loneliness. When the time comes for the chorus, Smith launches a line addressed to his ex-partner in this situation, reproaching him for the decisions that he was forced to make, as a result of loneliness. At the same time, the video presents us with the images of the same people that we saw previously, only this time in the form of holograms, they’re dancing around and in conjunction with Smith, hinting that he was somehow involved with them.

We’re then introduced to our second individual, Normani, in a manner quite similar to Smith’s, implying that they’re in the same situation. She is in a bed alone, in a room in the same state as Smith at the beginning of the video. When she begins to sing, she lets us see that there wasn’t even in her plans to resort to the methods in which she falls to forget her loneliness, but thanks to the constant memories of her ex she is forced to use them. She, too, lets us know, with a tone that’s between determined and desperate, that she needs to get this ex out of her mind, and that she, like Smith, knows what the method is to do it. What we can visually appreciate during all this is Normani beginning a choreographic number full of short but forceful movements that could well symbolize each step that she takes descending in this plan that she has to end the memories of her ex and her loneliness.

In the end, she is seen in the same situation as Smith, she even uses the same line with a recriminating tone for her ex-partner while she accuses him of her current situation. As she does this we see her on the corner of a sofa surrounded by holographic figures of the various strangers she meets in search to eliminate her loneliness. We can also observe more fragments of her choreography, which she performs in a very determined and energetic almost desperate way. Then both singers continue to sing in unison about finding themselves “dancing with strangers.” At that moment we can also see Smith in the other corner of the same sofa while both are surrounded by the different holograms.

However, we can notice that while the holograms try to get the attention of both, Smith and Normani don’t show any interest and they keep a blank stare. Presumably keeping alive and replaying the thoughts and memories that led them to be in that situation in the first place. During this period we switched to different cuts of Normani performing his choreography and the image of both artists sitting on opposite corners of the same sofa. While the whole situation is ending, the voices of both are losing their initial strength and sound more and more resigned to their new situation.

Also, thanks to the scenes that can be seen in this decline, it seems that they can calm their loneliness but they cannot take their minds off the events that led them there. Before closing the video all the models are shown to perform dances similar to Normani’s and slowly walking away from the singers, showing that their company was only a temporary solution. And in the end, we can see both artists in the same position in which they were seen at all times. Proving that all the effort to forget and overcome their thoughts was in vain and they’re the same place they started.

After analyzing the presentation that Sam Smith and Normani offer us of this song, we can see how difficult it can be to overcome a relationship. Many people find themselves in this situation in their life, more times than they would like to tell the truth, but it’s a necessary thing in life. And thanks to the advances and cultures of modern times, we have many options to “overcome” these relationships. However, when we’re consumed by the feeling of loneliness, our judgment can be clouded and we make wrong decisions.

And although we try to forget the situations that led us to resort to these methods, no matter how hard we try, it’s not a sure thing. Sometimes even after multiple attempts, we can find ourselves at the same starting point or even a worse one. All of this is thanks to the lack of control, especially negative emotions such as breakups or loneliness, that society offers us and the false sense of connection between people nowadays. We only have to hope we can learn in a healthy way to overcome these feelings, especially by learning to be happy and enough by ourselves.