Nara Smith addresses Mormon religion as parodies of her lifestyle take over TikTok

By Abby Amoakuh

Published Mar 5, 2024 at 01:58 PM

Reading time: 3 minutes

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Image courtesy of TikTok

“I know that my religion is a very hot topic on the internet,” Nara Aziza Smith, formerly Nara Aziza Pellman, said while applying a thin layer of mascara to her lashes. “I don’t know what I am doing,” the influencer confessed with a shy smile.

“I’m still learning and figuring out my own faith. I’m not in any way a hardcore Mormon or anything like that. I don’t wear garments, I didn’t get married in the temple. Both me and my husband are on our own journeys and figuring out how we want to raise our kids,” the influencer clarified in her latest TikTok clip that featured her addressing her audience’s burning questions during a ‘Get Ready With Me’ routine.

It was quite a monumental moment, which was quickly reshared on X (formerly Twitter) and disseminated throughout the internet. Netizens have been eagerly waiting for the model and content creator to address her religion after controversy arose when her fanbase suspected that she might be a Mormon.

In case you haven’t been on TikTok in the last month and have somehow managed to miss her, Nara Aziza Smith is a German and South African model and influencer who recently took the video-sharing platform by storm. The 22-year-old’s distinct video aesthetic consists of a compilation of clear-cut scenes that feature her cooking (mainly), taking care of her three children (occasionally), and lounging in her beautiful house wearing gorgeous designer clothing with her husband Lucky Blue Smith on one arm (almost always).

Her cooking, clothing, home decor and overall life are clean, simple, and elegant, telling a story about quiet luxury enveloped in all the ideals that popular culture has taught us to surrender to: traditional femininity and masculinity, wealth, and a soft and delicate life of leisure.

All of Smith’s videos are narrated by her sweet and calming voice which could lull you to sleep or guide you through your next meditation on Headspace. It all conveys a lack of stress and intensity in her life, providing escapism from the harsh realities of our daily routines and inviting us to envision a fantasy where we have the kind of time that allows us to make cereal from scratch.

For most netizens, admiring this beautiful aesthetic and modelling/homemaker life quickly turned into an addiction, propelling the content creator to the forefront of TikTok’s soft girl aesthetic and home cooking scene.

Nonetheless, controversy arose when it was discovered that her husband Lucky Blue Smith is a Mormon.

In fact, a recent video showcasing the 25-year-old’s morning routine even contained a brief excerpt of him reading the Book of Mormon while enjoying some breakfast tea in a Hogwarts cup. Cheeky.

Mormonism is considered abstract and controversial among religious beliefs due to its history of historical revisionism, homophobia, racism, and sexist policies. The church also has a racist legacy, propagating the belief that Black people bear the “curse of Cain.” The biblical figure of Cain appears in the Old Testament and tells the story of a jealous and murderous man cursed by god for killing his brother Abel.

Her husband’s faith quickly prompted the internet to believe that Nara Smith was of a similar one. However, the 22-year-old just set the record straight and her many fans and followers seemed to react with excitement at the news.

A lot of her fanbase critiqued that the backlash regarding the family’s religion was exclusively directed at Nara, instead of her husband, who is of much larger fame and the only confirmed Mormon within their household. Others added that judging Nara based on her religious beliefs was both prejudice and reductive.

Nevertheless, the 22-year-old’s status as TikTok’s resident chef and ultimate tradwife seems to have weathered the storm of controversy.

Nara Smith’s life inspires as much envy as it does criticism. One cannot help but be mesmerised by the image of a beautiful woman who steps into a bright kitchen and cooks a gourmet meal without a strain of hair out of place or getting so much as a stain on her couture dress.

However, one can try to reproduce it. Kylie Jenner and Nara’s very own husband Lucky Blue Smith have done so in recent videos that seem to pay homage to the queen of ‘A Day in My Life.’

Yet, a lot of Gen Zers are realising that these ideals Nara represents are far from the norm. They seem to be taking issue with Nara’s tendency to create everything from scratch, including Oreos, cheese, a grilled cheese sandwich (where the cheese, garlic butter and bread were homemade), cinnamon toast crunches, and doughnuts.

These parodies signal that many Gen Zers view the beautiful, carefree tradwife content as a mockery of their realities. Held up closer to the daylight, the vision of making your own Oreos in a chef’s kitchen isn’t as aspirational as it is unattainable. Thus, netizens created videos to challenge the boundaries and practicality of this lifestyle.

To many, including myself, it ultimately just looks like a presentation of wealth: a family that has enough income to preclude the wife from having to work every day, coupled with the modern dream of being a content creator who gets to enjoy free brand gifts and a flexible schedule.

Perhaps Nara’s lifestyle inspires as many copies as it does parodies because Gen Zers are obsessed with the false escapism of being a tradwife now that they’ve collectively decided to kiss hustle culture goodbye. The allure of immersing yourself in a light and delicate world of glamour is understandable. Nevertheless, I’d say that most of the creators cosplaying as a Mormon housewife for clicks are also very aware of the reality that this unattainable life is only within the reach of their phones.