Smokey Robinson has a message for all those TikTokers who just found out about his latest album Gasms: “Get your mind off of sex.”
Recently, a TikTok user named “Hollywoodnut” posted a video where he shares his amazement learning about the soul legend’s 2022 LP and its eye-catching album title. “This is insane,” he noted in the video that’s been viewed upward of 1.8 million times. “Like in what context would I listen to this song?”
Somehow, Hollywoodnut’s inquiry reached Robinson, who took apparently took a break from driving and turned to his own TikTok account to educate those making fun of the LP by clarifying what exactly ‘Gasms’ means.
“I figured it’s time for me to comment on all the comments I’ve been getting about calling my album Gasms. ‘Gasms’ is any good feeling you might have,” Robinson said. “‘Gasms’ is not only a sexual word; it’s a word that means whatever makes you happy. Whatever makes you happy is a ‘gasm’ for you, so I wanna clear that up.”
He continued, “People are saying at my age, I shouldn’t be talking about ‘gasms.’ I still have ‘gasms,’ and hope always do. So I wanna clear that up with you guys who are making negative comments.”
Back in 2023, Rolling Stone spoke to Smokey about why he named the album Gasms. “Well, I wrote a song called ‘Gasms,’ and that’s the title of the album, Gasms,” he said at the time. “All the songs on the album have a connotation to them. Most people, when you say ‘gasms,’ they think about orgasms. But ‘gasms’ is any good feeling that you get. It’s probably a controversial title, but I wanted it to be that way.”
Robinson added of the title track on TikTok, “‘Gasms,’ if you listen to it, you’ll know that it is not something dirty or whatever you’re trying to make it… The response to it has been wonderful, so get on board.”