Tyra Banks and Santa SMiZE Debut New Music Video and Declare War on Each Other

In the waning light of 2025, a most peculiar email crossed my desk concerning an interview opportunity with the supermodel and former The Tyra Banks Show host. Just one catch: our interview would be held jointly with the definitely-not-an-alter-ego Santa SMiZE, self-professed ice cream innovator and South Pole resident Santa SMiZE. How could PAPER turn it down? I've been riddled with questions about the proliferation of Banks' latest hot ice cream venture, and to my extreme pleasure, the interview would be about just that.

Well, hot ice cream was one topic up for discussion. The other? A new music video together for their latest song, "Santa SMiZE, Santa SMiZE." It's Banks' first single since her last single about ice cream, "I Want That Smize Cream" with DJ Splitz featuring Banks and STORi.

Check out that new music video, premiering exclusively on PAPER:

I had many questions for them both, primarily concerning Banks' newfound life as an ice cream mogul and near-constant state of self-reinvention. In the chaos of her feud with the holiday doppelgänger and flurry of concerned TikTok videos from fans and critics about what exactly "hot ice cream" is, the skeleton of some master plan emerges. Banks wants to provoke, entice, keep people guessing. I ask, quite frankly, where that urge comes from. "I don’t mess with people’s heads. I invite them to think differently. Calling it 'crazy' is just what happens when imagination shows up somewhere it’s not expected." She adds that "If a comedian did what I do, people would say, 'That’s just their bit.' But when you don’t come from that lane, especially in fashion, people freeze."

Note the ice cream pun.

Despite our extensive conversation, I'd say I left with more questions than answers. They talked amongst themselves about their feud, which seems to be based in Santa SMiZE's belief that she owns the intellectual property to both Christmas and ice cream. Despite popping up in NYC, they did not make any hot reservations, nor did either make an appearance at Basement or Mansions or any Brooklyn hotspots that PAPER staff can be found. They did tussle with some drag queens though, and jet off to Los Angeles to premiere the video in person together.

Selfishly, I also got the answer I've been looking for about the potential successor theme park to Banks' gone-too-soon ModelLand experience, which was shut down after the onset of the pandemic all those years ago. "My passion for immersive theatricality is still strong. Building worlds people can step into in unexpected places — especially through ice cream — that’s the dream I’m living now. ModelLand is gone for now, but her spirit lives on inside these other worlds. And yes, I’ll be introducing a new world early next year."

I mean this genuinely: PAPER cannot wait to see how that turns out. In the meantime, read our full conversation with these warring Christmas divas below.

Is Santa SMiZE in the room with us right now?

Santa SMiZE: What do you mean, am I in the room? I’m right here. You’re talking about me like I’ve stepped out — as if the Diva of the South Pole would ever miss an entrance. Please. Don’t confuse me with the North. I show up. I show out. And today, I’m showing up seated right next to Miss Banks.

Tyra: Yeah, she’s here. Trust me.

How did “Santa SMiZE, Santa SMiZE” come into existence?

Tyra: It started with hot ice cream. I wanted to help ice cream shops around the world stay alive during the winter. When it gets cold, scoops slow down and businesses get hurt — but I wanted to keep it happy, energetic, and joyful. Not sad.

Santa SMiZE: I don’t need your charity, Miss Banks.

Tyra: Honey… yes, you do. So I created hot ice cream, and then I wrote Santa SMiZE a song to keep cold ice cream alive too.

What about you, Santa SMiZE? Did seeing Tyra drop a single make you want to jump into the studio?

Santa SMiZE: Yes, music is in my South Pole bones. I’ve had an ice cream tavern there for years. Some of the best ice cream on the planet. We do open-mic nights every day. I perform on the weekends. But when I step onto my own stage? I light the whole place up. I sing. I rap. Santa Claus used to be my backup dancer — many, many years ago. That’s where the jealousy began.

Tyra, what was it like to return to the studio after all these years?

Santa SMiZE: She thought about shaking her body body again.

Tyra: I did not. But it did remind me how much I love using music to tell a story. And I do need to give credit where credit is due. Santa SMiZE…yes, you can sing. Yes, you can rap. But you cannot write lyrics.I wrote every single word that came out of your mouth. Even the ad-libs.

Santa SMiZE: Yeah… well. I made them words sound damn good.And catchy as hell.

You both are in Australia during the wintertime. Was it weird to adjust to a country where it's beach weather during Christmas?

Tyra: I’m from Los Angeles, California, so I grew up waking up on Christmas Day with the sun shining. You get a new bicycle and you can actually go outside and ride it — because it’s warm and bright and there’s no snow. That’s my normal.

Santa SMiZE, did you have to update your sleigh riding outfit to include a bikini and beach towels?

Santa SMiZE: See, that’s where it gets weird for me. Christmas without snow is confusing. I don’t know what the hell is going on. I’m used to snowfall, sparkle, drama… not sunscreen. Even rocking a bikini on the beach, which I do, and look lovely, feels strange without snow falling around me. What I do love about Christmas in Australia is that it’s hot, and people are lined up down the block and around the corner for ice cream.

Tyra: And hot ice cream. But whatever, take credit, boo.

Santa SMiZE, you stormed NYC this week. Did you have reservations at any hot restaurants or invites to any clubs? Tyra, did you run into her anywhere?

Santa SMiZE: I didn't have time to RSVP. I was in demand. From club stages to drag stages, everyone wanted me to perform. And let me be clear, I love drag queens, deeply. But they kept singing Tyra's songs at me. "Be a Star," "Life-Size," "Shake Your Body." Next thing I know, they're dancing on bars like it's Coyote Ugly. And honestly? I was a little insulted. This was my moment.

Tyra: Icons have a way of showing up, even when they're not in the room. Deal With it.

On the topic of hot NYC spots, Santa SMiZE, have you gone to Basement? Mansions?

Santa SMiZE: I don't chase hot spots, I follow the heat.

Tyra: She means my blazing ice cream. And she's not wrong, everyone's talking about my heat, and her holiday anthem is riding that wave.

Santa SMiZE, have you tried the viral hot ice cream yet? What’s your dream hot ice cream flavor?

Santa SMiZE: I actually stayed away from hot ice cream at first. I trust Tyra's palate, but if I'm being honest, I was sulking. It was getting a lot of attention. Then Miss Thang told me she wanted to create a flavor with my name on it, so I had no choice. I wrapped my lips around that cup and took a sip. And It pains me to admit this, but Santa SMiZE Cookies slaps. I did insist we make it as a cold ice cream too. Because hands down, the cold one is the one. It is the moment.

The hot one is... good enough.

Tyra, you’ve had a busy year, between your businesses and now your all out war with Santa SMiZE. Have you heard the adage: “Never let them guess your next move”? Do you feel that applies?

Tyra: I’ve always been a master at a pivot, not just on a runway.Okay, that sounds so braggy. See? She’s contagious. But really, for me, it’s about chasing passion and then going all the way in. When I enter a new world, I study it deeply. I become a student, then an expert. With ice cream, I’m a sommelier, a little bit of a scientist, a little bit of an R&D nerd. I’ve tasted ice cream all over the world for decades. And I don’t say this lightly, what we’re making is some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had. Friggin ever.

This is my ice cream era. And I genuinely believe the world will come to know me for this just as much as they once knew me for magazine covers and catwalks.

Santa SMiZE: She rehearsed that answer.

Tyra, you also seem to enjoy messing with people's heads a bit, and playing with the idea that people think you're a bit "crazy," to use your own words. Where does that impulse come from, for you?

Tyra: I don’t mess with people’s heads. I invite them to think differently. Calling it “crazy” is just what happens when imagination shows up somewhere it’s not expected. If a comedian did what I do, people would say, “That’s just their bit.” But when you don’t come from that lane, especially in fashion, people freeze.

And I love it. If you lead with logic, people relax, but if you lead with surprise, they lean in. I’ve said it a thousand times, different is better than better and now I’m not just teaching it. I’m living it. These ideas keep coming. I don’t sleep.

PAPER is still sad we missed our chance at going to your real world ModelLand pop-up years ago. Do you imagine there's a Christmas themed iteration in the works anytime soon?

Tyra: ModelLand was an immersive world I created that was sadly ruined by Covid, a painful loss of a business. It was theatrical. A little surreal. But that spirit didn’t disappear. It just evolved. My passion for immersive theatricality is still strong. Building worlds people can step into in unexpected places — especially through ice cream — that’s the dream I’m living now. ModelLand is gone for now, but her spirit lives on inside these other worlds. And yes, I’ll be introducing a new world early next year.

Santa SMiZE: Don’t forget about me.

Tyra: I’ll never forget you.You won’t let me.

Credits:

Cinematography: Ben Deigman

Editor: Phil Meyer

Styling: Wilford Lenov

Makeup: Jordan Wolferstan

Hair: Delphyne Kanuma

Creative Direction: Byron Spencer