Lil Nas X is the boundary-smashing pop revolutionary of 2021
December 30, 2021 1:24 PM   Subscribe

Lil Nas X is the boundary-smashing pop revolutionary of 2021 [NPR medium read] "Nas' creative output is fully on trend with today's renaissance in Black LGBT+ pop culture that includes everything from ball culture TV series Pose, risqué HBO teen melodrama Euphoria and the irreverent, sexually-frank, Black gay Pulitzer Prize-winning musical A Strange Loop."
posted by hippybear (8 comments total) 20 users marked this as a favorite
 
I dunno what it says about me or about Lil Nas X but he's the one Zoomer celeb that always makes me, solidly on the bad end of the declining millennial generation, smile ear to ear when i hear or see what he's been up to.
posted by dis_integration at 1:33 PM on December 30, 2021 [12 favorites]


I class him with Lizzo in 'young people making music that's probably mostly not for me but I love their vibe anyway and wish them really well.'
posted by praemunire at 1:41 PM on December 30, 2021 [5 favorites]


(Also, his Taco Bell ad with Elton John is hilarious. "You don't look broke.")
posted by praemunire at 1:43 PM on December 30, 2021 [1 favorite]


Lil Nas was the winner of my 2021 Spotify Wrapped by several orders of magnitude thanks to the day or so I spent listening to MONTERO on a loop for hours. Seeing this post inspired me to go back and put it on again.
posted by fight or flight at 1:56 PM on December 30, 2021 [2 favorites]


I like Montero well enough. A lot of it is music that is not for me, although I'm learning to appreciate the flow of the album (which is truly an album, not just a collection of songs).

I think that That's What I Want is a total banger, reminds me of certain production styles from the past that I've enjoyed, like Timbaland and some others. I'm glad he threw this Old a bone. :) (Also, the video is gay gay gay gay gay.)
posted by hippybear at 8:09 PM on December 30, 2021 [1 favorite]


Industry Baby is the thing I listen to over and over again; that and Dead Right Now. 2021 for me was very much a year when I had dragged myself over broken glass through 2020, and I spent huge parts of the year learning to survive and thrive again and succeed despite everything going on.

I'm so impressed with his music, the vulnerability and the defiant pride of his lyrics. I wish him all the success in the world.
posted by sciatrix at 8:42 PM on December 30, 2021 [3 favorites]


I wrote about Montero for The Singles Jukebox, under the name Sonya Nicholson:

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=29979

Lil Nas X was the celebrity we needed in the dark days of 2021, a bright light shining down to the bottom of the Discourse well.
posted by subdee at 9:38 PM on December 30, 2021 [6 favorites]


His music is good, and I like it well enough to buy it and listen sometimes. But his attitude, smarts, sense of style, activism, and being unabashedly himself is off the charts. The sense of how to market himself, and the way he handles all the hate… it’s super impressive and I love him for it.
posted by gemmy at 6:49 AM on December 31, 2021 [10 favorites]


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