Don't Let The 'Montero' Controversy Distract From Lil Nas X's Superior Musicality

Don't Let The 'Montero' Controversy Distract From Lil Nas X's Superior Musicality




By Da'Shan Smith


First thing’s first: “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” is another bona fide banger from Lil Nas X.


Right now, let’s briefly address the controversy surrounding the song’s music video. Gay Black artist slides down a pole to hell immediately after being sentenced for a steamy makeout session with an alien snake? Check. That artist happens to be wearing androgynous costumes, vibrant wigs, skintight latex, and manicured acrylics? Check. Immediately after arriving in hell, mentioned artist gives Satan a scandalous lap dance? Check. Right-wing pundits suspecting the gay agenda and sacrilegious ideology are plaguing the mainstream and, so, negatively influencing children? Check. Check. Check.


The music video for “Montero” is a textbook media spectacle. It’s already after the “WAP” effect, where Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion caused a ruckus in their sex-positive Willy Wonka factory of moist “macaroni in a pot.” Their world of gyrating choreography, Mugler-designed pasties, and unexpected cameos from the likes of Normani, Rosalía, and Kylie Jenner celebrated variations of womanhood, body positivity, and sexuality.


It’s as if mainstream artists know how to use a certain formula now: release a catchy song on the pulse of trends as well as a stunning video that showcases their most polarizing traits, then reap the rewards of the inevitable culture clash. Like Cardi B mockingly confesses at the end of her No. 1  smash “Up”: “Look, got to play it safe / No face, no case!” Nevertheless there’s aesthetics in the video for “Montero” in its newly liberated expression of identity — one that Nas X says he’s yearned to sing and see since age 14.


Nevertheless the video’s controversies distract from the musicality of the song itself. Judging by its No. 1 peaks on iTunes and Spotify in its debut week so far, there really are fans who believe, simply, that it’s a banger — so much so that they are spending $1.29 on the audio-only MP3s and streaming in the millions without watching the contentious clip. Sure, that discourse will probably lead to higher listening numbers (something Lil Nas X himself is aware better than anyone), yet the key to charting is consistency. And Lil Nas X is beginning to show cohesiveness in his sound as he conquers his own lane of pop music, inspired by the genre-blasting inherent to its hyperpop influence.


Once Lil Nas X debuted “Old Town Road” in December 2018, what began as a TikTok trend and Twitter meme turned into a viral hit. Because of these origins, the overnight Columbia Records label deal and re-release in March 2019, and the oh-so shocking idea of a Black man singing nation music and then fusing trap into it, “Old Town Road” was initially taken as a parody, even as it eventually achieved a record-breaking 19 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100.


Nevertheless hyperpop’s cacophony of random noises and infectious looping effects served as a base for the sonics of his eventual debut project, 7, the EP served a melting weed of genres and brooding tones, as heard on “Panini,” which swapped nation for a punk chorus amid its digitized cadences, and the Cardi B-assisted “Rodeo.” There was a childlike excellent to the lyricism and the instrumentation on 7. Several took that to be a sign of an artist not taking his craft seriously. Yet the inflection mirrored the angst of a queer person struggling to grow up and come out. Off-kilter rock fuels each track — even the coveted banjo sample of Nine Inch Nails’s “34 Ghosts IV” on “Old Town Road.” On 7, Lil Nas X is a dark, lonely soul facing adversity in being his true self.


There are music listeners who detest the packaging of pop, nevertheless yet still subscribe to the giant ways in which it defines popular culture. However it becomes even more elaborate to experience hyperpop, a variation of pop music that’s dominated by queer talent and thinking. As some critics suppressed the genre’s seriousness in the 2010s, a scene bubbled in popularity underground.  In 2014, genre pioneers Sophie and A.G. Cook played London basements while Charli XCX threw a Clueless prom-like rave at New York’s Webster Hall. In 2015, Holly Herndon obtained widespread important acclaim for her album, Platform. Flume’s 2016 album, Skin, won the Grammy for Best Dance/Electronic Album.


The proto-success of hyperpop calls back to the techno and industrial residence scenes of queer Black artistry in the Midwest — particularly, Detroit techno duo Drexciya. They were reinventing and resurrecting the sound of disco for a new age of technology as well as a raving party scene of the late 1980s into the early '90s. An entire scene emerged of afrofuturism intersecting, resulting in mainstream pop acts like Grace Jones.


Trace the trajectory of underground electronic music for almost 30 years, and things are different on the mainstream tip. At the moment, the artist who stands tallest on the scene owing to this prosperous history is Lil Nas X. By this stage in his career, a pop icon has eased into the art of conceptual storytelling. If 7 served because the coming-out story, then fans have began speculating that his forthcoming debut album might document his tales of being out and sexually mobile, balancing romance with international fame.


the opening single, “Holiday,” flirted with the singer’s proclivities over a trap beat, trolling the tropes of Christmas music. “I might bottom on the low, although I top shit / Switch the genre on you hoes, do a rock hit,” raps an artist selling game to the public. Yet “Holiday” didn’t visualize the commercial success of “Old Town Road,” “Panini,” or “Rodeo,” a Tay Keith production credit shows that Lil Nas X’s hyperpop and cyberpunk has clout in hip-hop.


“Montero” is more aggressive than earlier works, the “rock hit” foreshadowed by the opening verse of “Holiday.” The track's key songwriters and producers include the twosome Take a Daytrip that was also in back of “Panini,” and Roy Lenzo. Another is Omer Fedi, who is on the pulse of the pop-punk’s present fusion with hip-hop, as heard on Iann Dior and 24kGoldn’s “Mood.” Similar sensual energy along with a lustful flamenco beat pervade “Montero,” which is underscored by guitar plucking and rhythmic clapping.


On it, Nas X begs for that phone call to link up with the one he envies, a closeted romantic partner whose eluding his own sexual demons. He wants to hear “I love you” while in secret pillow talk nevertheless has nevertheless to receive a response. Haunting the track is harmonious humming, as if the unrequited love is being reflected back at him. One could read the melodramatic ambiance and themes as a successor to Rosalía’s “Malemente.” Lil Nas X has transformed into a Thanos of modern pop, merging genres for artist-defining statements. Like Drake or Rihanna, Lil Nas X exhibits how he can musically and artistically maneuver through waves. He’s mastered the art of trolling the masses; right now, it’s time to dive deep into the music.









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