My Thoughts On... || Lil Nas X's "MONTERO" Era

Lil Nas X is a well-known modern rapper and singer, known for his hit song, Old Town Road (Remix) (feat. Billy Ray Cyrus), which broke Billboard Hot 100's record for longest #1, previously held by Mariah Carey for One Sweet Day (feat. Boyz II Men). Shortly after, he released his debut EP, 7, which I wasn't a big fan of. I think most of the songs were okay at best and being quite honest, I haven't gone back to it since it came out in 2019. I was scared he wouldn't evolve artistically and would be the next name on the list of one-hit-wonders.

When he came out as gay at the end of pride month in 2019, I began seeing a shift in his image. He wasn't the Old Town Road guy anymore. He started opening up more and letting us into his life, like he was re-introducing himself to us. With this, he would also share many snippets of music he was working on for his debut album, MONTERO, and in my personal opinion, sounded way better than any of his previous songs. However, I was still afraid of how the general public would react to them because I wanted these new songs to be just as successful. Months later, MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) was announced to be released as the lead single for his debut album.

MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) was my favorite snippet he released on his Instagram. When it was released, I was very excited, but I was a little underwhelmed on my initial listen because I expected it to have much more of an impact on me. The length of the song, being under 2 minutes and 30 seconds, was my main issue. I thought there was so much room to make it better than what it was, but regardless, it grew and I really like it.

What I wanted for him was to squash the one-hit-wonder label the public gave him and he did, as MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. Even now, it is still stable, as every week since then, it has remained in the top 10.

The music video made a massive impact on the public, which is why I think the song is as successful as it is. It is truly a big "fuck you" to all the homophobes, who made him feel ashamed to be gay. My jaw was on the floor the entire video because I had never seen any artist, especially a black male rapper, be willing to showcase "gay culture" as bluntly as he did. Society prefers to accept homosexuality masked with masculinity, so for Lil Nas X to dance in heels and have a sexual interaction with a man in a video for the public to see was brave and I really think it sparked a lot of important conversations about society and homosexuality.

SUN GOES DOWN was released as the album's second single and I immediately crowned it his best song. It didn't receive the amount of success MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) did, but it honestly didn't need to. It's a slow, R&B-pop-sounding track about struggling to accept his sexuality. The lyrics were honest, his singing was good, and the instrumental really captured the sad nature of the song. I cannot listen to SUN GOES DOWN anymore because it either makes me tear up or full-on cry, due to its subject matter, but it's definitely his best song to date.

Industry Baby (feat. Jack Harlow) is set to be released this Friday, July 23, 2021, as the album's third single and it is the reason I decided to write about this era. Lil Nas X is a marketing genius. I haven't seen an album roll-out this impressive since Dua Lipa's 2020 album, Future Nostalgia, or even more recently, Olivia Rodrigo's SOUR album roll-out.

Lil Nas X has been making TikToks and videos on Instagram about an upcoming court case for his "Satan Shoes", which I just assumed was him being his normal self and not taking things too seriously. When I went on Instagram two days ago, the first thing I saw was the snippet he posted of Industry Baby's new music video, which features the "Satan Shoes" court case he had been posting about for days. I was dumbfounded. Lil Nas X is known for trolling us, but this man and his team deserve so much respect because this MONTERO era is perfect. He knows how to get people talking and how to capture our attention, and because of this, his album roll-out has benefitted incredibly.

I anticipate Industry Baby (feat. Jack Harlow) to be my favorite out of all the singles so far, because of the snippet I heard. I await his debut album and can't wait to review it. I hope MONTERO is one of my favorite albums of 2021 because my hopes are high after hearing these three singles. It's safe to say Lil Nas X is gonna be around for a while and I love that for us. I have no doubt he will continue evolving as an artist and I wish him a long and successful career.

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