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FOUNDING MEMBER
MUS I C
Lil Nas X Introduces Himself
for the Second Time
Lil Nas X arrives at the 2021 iHeartRadio Music Awards at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles,.
BY STEVE ERICKSON
Back when reality TV became
popular, it was common
to hear complaints
about celebrities “becoming
famous for being famous.” What
this really meant was that they hadn’t
proven themselves in a respected
fi eld of endeavor, like acting or music.
If they did pursue those fi elds, they
were seen as secondary. Paris Hilton’s
“Stars Are Blind” has stood up
well as a dance club bop, but it’s not
the reason we still remember her.
Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” is the
main reason we’re still talking about
him, so it’s not exactly true to lump
him into this category. But while he’s
a rapper and singer, his music has often
seemed secondary to a multimedia
art project encompassing videos,
his social media feed, and even stunts
like limited-edition “Satan shoes”
containing a drop of human blood.
Those shoes didn’t seem intended
merely to promote his song “Montero
(Call Me By Your Name).” If anything,
the song and shoes were on an equal
footing, no pun intended.
Lil Nas X made history by coming
out in the middle of his historic 19-
week run at number one with “Old
Town Road.” His “7” ep felt rushed,
leaping from genre to genre with no
real sense of passion for any of them.
“Old Town Road” proved more durable
than its meme-rap origins suggested,
but I didn’t expect him to have
a career beyond it. “Mambo #5” and
REUTERS/MARIO ANZUONI
“Gangnam Style” were huge hits in
their times, but do Lou Bega and PSY
still have any audience in the US?
When Lil Nas X came out, I thought
that his open gayness would allow
him to reach a second act. (On “One
of Me,” he speaks from the voice of his
critics to worry “I don’t see you lasting
long and that’s a promise.”) The
impersonal nature of “7” made more
sense knowing it was coming from
the closet.
Unfortunately, Lil Nas X has mostly
gotten the public’s attention when
he’s provoking them. The video for
“Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” in
which he has sex with an alien in the
garden of Eden, then descends down
a stripper pole to hell, gives Satan a
lap dance, kills him, and takes over
hell, and “Industry Baby,” featuring
nude dancing in jail, triggered anger
from conservative pundits, only
making him look cooler. In between,
he released the second single from
“Montero,” “Sun Goes Down.” Given
a rather sweet visual in which he
looks back at his prom (held only four
years ago) and reimagines attending
it as an out gay teen, it didn’t exactly
bomb — 67 million Spotify streams
would be a raging success for most
artists — but it was ignored by the
media and radio.
Lil Nas X has been perceived as a
pop star who sometimes raps rather
than be a part of hip-hop culture.
“Industry Baby” is his most convincing
attempt at making a rap banger.
Tyler, the Creator and Brockhampton
member Kevin Abstract are the only
other out queer men who’ve succeeded
in mainstream hip-hop, and even Tyler,
with two platinum albums, has
never reached an audience as wide as
Lil Nas X. His casual declaration on
“Industry Baby,” propelled by triumphant
horns, which hit number 2 on
Billboard’s top 100, that ‘I don’t f**k
b*****s, I’m queer” is something new
for an artist at this level of popularity.
On “Montero,” Lil Nas X works overtime
to compensate for the generic
tendencies of “7.” The lyrics juxtapose
his rise to fame with his mother’s
struggles with drugs. He looks back
at the terrors of being a closeted teenager,
when he prayed that God would
turn him heterosexual. He relates his
life story, with sex playing as large a
part in it as it does in many heterosexual
artists’ lyrics.
Musically, “Montero” is less singular.
Strangely, its combination of
genres, mixing pop, rock, and hip-hop
infl uences never expresses much real
personality. The production feels calculated
for airplay on as many radio
formats as possible. The title track
and “What I Want,” essentially a soft
rock ballad, follow the recent tendency
to mix guitars with trap beats.
“Life After Salem” sports a guitar solo
straight out of ‘80s hair metal. “Sun
Goes Down” stands out for matching
its heartfelt lyrics with music that fully
supports them, where “Void” aims
for a sparer sound to match its pensive
lyrics and doesn’t quite fi nd it.
“Montero” is a big step up from “7,”
but it feels calculated to reach the
widest audience possible. “Old Town
Road” was appealing because its mix
of country and rap didn’t feel prepackaged
or destined for success. Instead
of becoming one of the biggest
hits in pop music history, it could
easily have fallen through the cracks
of the vast quantity of music designed
for TikTok virality. But the syrupy
production of “Am I Dreaming” closes
the album on a sour note. (Out pop
star Doja Cat improves “Scoop” by
introducing the loopiness of vintage
Missy Elliott and Nicki Minaj. The
pansexual, non-binary Miley Cyrus
and gay rock legend Elton John also
get features, but the latter only plays
piano.) Many backing tracks could’ve
been offered to Post Malone instead.
We know a lot more about Lil Nas
X as a person from “Montero,” but we
don’t learn much about how music
excites him.
LIL NAS X | “Montero” | Columbia
Records
September 23 - October 6,12 2021 | GayCityNews.com
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