Arts & Entertainment

Sam Smith teases new music after two-year hiatus

fans are speculating that Sept. 8 will be the big reveal

Published

9 years ago

September 1, 2017

Mariah Cooper

Sam Smith (Photo courtesy of the Merriweather Post Pavilion)

Sam Smith is making his comeback this fall after a two-year hiatus.

Smith has kept under the radar since the release of his single “Writing’s on the Wall” for the James Bond film “Spectrum.” It’s been even longer since his critically-acclaimed debut album, “In the Lonely Hour” was released in 2014.

In an Instagram post on Thursday, Smith thanked his fans for waiting for new music and teased a new release “very very very” soon.

“To all my beautiful fans, first of all I want to say thank you,” Smith writes. “Thank you for being so patient and for letting me have the past year to really escape into my mind & write music so freely. I feel so rejuvenated and have so many stories I can’t wait to tell you.”

“The wait is so nearly over,” Smith continued. “Something is coming very very very soon. I am scared & excited at the same time. I’ve poured my soul and heart into this record.”

A post shared by Sam Smith (@samsmithworld) on Aug 31, 2017 at 7:59am PDT

Smith kept to his word and posted the first official news of new music on Friday morning. The singer posted a photo to Instagram which shows a Spotify ad in the Shoreditch neighborhood in East London. The ad features Smith’s face and the date Sept. 8.

No official news on what the date could mean has been given but there is speculation that is the date Smith’s first single from his sophomore album will be released.

Morning London x

A post shared by Sam Smith (@samsmithworld) on Sep 1, 2017 at 1:11am PDT

Online Culture

Clavicular charged in alleged rape of teenage influencer

Online personality’s real name is Braden Peters

Published

20 hours ago

September 23, 2026

Joe Reberkenny

Braden Peters a.k.a. "Clavicular" (Screen capture via NBC News/YouTube)

Online personality Clavicular, whose real name is Braden Peters, has been accused of rape.

According to NBC, Aleksandra Vasilevna Mendoza, an 18-year-old influencer known online as Alorah or Alorah Ziva, accused Peters of sexual assault, and the case is making its way through the court system.

The alleged incident occurred on May 23, 2025, when Mendoza was 17.

According to a criminal complaint from the Chatham (Mass.) Police Department, Peters called her an Uber to his family’s home. Once there, he allegedly got her drunk on vodka while they livestreamed on Twitch and then raped her. His mother and grandmother were allegedly in the house.

The documents allege Clavicular committed rape, drugging a person for sexual intercourse, and procuring and providing liquor to a person under 21.

According to court documents acquired by NPR, Mendoza began communicating with Peters on Instagram, where he paid her to appear on his livestreams to help her “make her name known on social media.”

According to those documents, Peters arranged for the minor to come to Cape Cod home to participate in a videostream for his 437,000 followers on Kick, 1.2 million followers on TikTok, and more than 1 million followers on Instagram.

At his home, Peters allegedly instructed Mendoza to say she was 18 on his videostream and to claim the alcohol on camera was water instead of vodka. Mendoza said she felt peer-pressured to drink the spirit and that she became noticeably intoxicated after a couple of drinks.

The allegations go on to state that after stopping the stream, Peters and Mendoza kissed on a couch and then had sex in his bed without her consent. Mendoza said she did not receive a sexual assault forensic exam after the incident. NPR does not name alleged victims of sexual assault.

The charges come months after Mendoza sued Peters in Miami, accusing him of sexual battery in connection with the events of May 2025. The civil lawsuit also separately alleges that he injected her face with a non-FDA-approved fat-dissolving substance during a November livestream in Florida.

Peters is known for his “looksmaxxing” concept of vanity, which is at the core of his online presence. The “looksmaxxing” culture he has helped cultivate combines elements of incel culture and heterosexuality, with the stated goal of attracting the opposite sex. He has gone as far as to say he has undergone “bonesmashing,” or hitting his own face with a hammer; taken anabolic steroids to more rapidly grow muscle; and used crystal meth as an appetite suppressant.

At the same time, looksmaxxing has been described as having elements of homoeroticism, with “looksmaxxers” appearing more concerned with impressing other men than women. Peters has multiple times pointed to openly gay actor Matt Bomer as the gold standard for male facial aesthetics.

Peters’s arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 14.