As Sena Bryer has said:

Smile is straight up Black Gospel music, and the fact that it's getting a lot of hate from "certain sections" of gamers? Probably not a coincidence.
You can see her tweet here: https://twitter.com/senabryer/status...50775403815132

I think this is a timely reminder to us in the FF14 community right now. With the hatred that Dawntrail is getting - including towards all its elements like the music Smile or the character Wuk Lamat - we must learn to separate criticism from bigotry.

Sena Bryer is completely right here. She is pointing out how the hatred towards Smile can often be a result of bigotry and intolerance than actual substance. I believe Sena Bryer will also agree with me that FF14 has up to now often used White Classical music (like orchestral music or opera-style music). So the use of Black Gospel music is a welcome change and a breath of fresh air. But apparently this musical diversity has provoked certain elements of the playerbase into outrage mode for bigoted reasons. As a community we need to stand against this bigotry and look at ourselves and ask ourselves: are we living up to FF14's ideals of tolerance, acceptance, and hope?

Of course, this does not apply to everyone. As Sena Bryer has said: "Weird how so many people are getting defensive to this instead of going 'ah, she's not talking about me though.'"