I read that Sam Smith was hoping to create a huge viewer shockwave of reaction to his Satanist floor show.
Perhaps Sam doesn’t realize that millions of people who used to watch award shows like the Grammy don’t always watch it every year as they used to.
Another reason for low reaction may be that Sam, as a performer is well, boring and kind of annoying. Most folks dont expect much of anything from him besides a demand to call him “them”.