





The majority of people are familiar with the term “one-night stand”. In fact, the majority of people who are familiar with the phrase have experienced it first-hand. A one-night stand is when two people get together for only one night and enjoy each other’s company. These encounters generally lead to sex, and by morning at least one person is gone, leaving the other alone. This strategy for sexual intercourse has been used for a long time. The appeal to use this tactic is simple. It satisfies physical needs, while allowing the individuals to avoid getting pressured into a relationship. However, even though we are wired to have sexual desire, humans do desire having relationships with one another. The desire for relationships breeds loneliness. Sam Smith’s music video “Stay With Me” portrays the aftermath of a one-night stand and the emotions it entails. By looking at the video’s projections of colors, faces, and symbols, we can see that a one-night stand breeds sex instead of love which leaves people lonely rather than happy. This is important because without love there is no true happiness and loneliness leads to depression.

The music video has a scene of numerous people singing in unison. The scene takes place in a building with a white color scheme. The people portrayed are all different including men and 


women, as well as different races. However, the entire group is wearing all black clothing. Sam Smith is singing on top a staircase facing the people. The placement of Sam Smith above the group singing is supposed to make the viewer believe he is preaching to them. This makes sense because the building encompassing the people represents a church due to the white color scheme and architecture. The idea that the scene is in a church helps reveal the salvation that the people are finding in each other. The image of everyone singing together gives way to the belief that “everyone needs love”, because without love we are alone.

Loneliness is well portrayed in another scene in which Sam Smith is alone walking down the street after his one-night stand. The scene shows the man walking down the center of a street in the early morning by himself. The camera uses a close-up shot of Sam Smith. Close-ups are used to express the emotion on the face of the subject. The facial expressions Sam Smith use are dreary and sad. The close-up is trying to portray emotional loneliness. Another visual technique being used in this scene is linear perspective. The camera angle shows the depth of the streets behind Sam Smith because the lines around him all lead back to a vanishing point. There is also no other people on the streets with him. This technique is used to show the physical loneliness of the subject. Both of these visual techniques allow the viewer to understand that walking away from a one-night stand produces loneliness instead of happiness. Which backs up the idea that sex is not love and only love can produce happiness.

Another scene in the music video is Sam Smith alone in a bedroom. In this bedroom, the bed is unmade and messy, and the curtains are open. These two images in the bedroom suggest the time of day is morning. This represents the morning after a one-night stand, and of course this means that the two that were once together are now apart. The scene portrays Sam Smith 

sitting on the bed in the bedroom alone further proving a one-night stand took place. The facial expressions Sam Smith use in the close-up shot within the bedroom show sadness out of emotional loneliness. All of these symbols lead back to the bed in the bedroom. The bed itself is a symbol because this is where two people spend a good amount of their lives together whether the act is sleep or sex. Therefore, many people think the bed symbolizes love. However, because Sam Smith is alone in the bedroom and he shows an obvious sense of loneliness there is no reason to believe that the bed is a symbol of love. Rather, it suggests that the bed is a symbol of sex. The bedroom, where a one-night stand usually ends up, is a symbol of sex and not love. So no true happiness can be found from this act.
The strategy of a one-night stand is broadly known. Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me” displays the events and emotions that follow this widely known act vividly. The scenes within the video individually support the idea that the common one-night stand produces unhappiness. The choir scene proves “everyone needs love” so we do not feel alone in this scene. While the street scene in the music video helps bring to light the true aloneness after a one-night stand. Also, how love is the only true source of happiness. Finally, the bedroom scene of the video proves how the bedroom is a symbol of sex instead of love, which means that no true happiness can be found in just a bedroom. One-night stands are very easy to control and commit. This makes them very appealing to the single community. However, after seeing the loneliness it produces, is a one-night stand a good strategy?

