Lil Nas X's Montero Has A Song For Every Mood
By Megan Armstrong
Lil Nas X brought the Montero State Prison from his “Industry Baby” music video to the 2021 Video Music Awards stage last Sunday night. “It’s been, like, a long year for me, and I’ve had to defeat a lot of internal battles,” the 22-year-old rapper
told MTV News’s Dometi Pongo soon after accepting the Video of the Year award for “Montero (Call Me by Your Name).” “The prison represented me breaking out of that.” With his debut studio album
Montero, out today (September 19), Lil Nas X place on Earth Montero Lamar Hill) is starting the door and walking listeners by way of the painful process it took to break free and embrace his truest self — primed to bust up the “homophobic cloud over hip-hop,”
according to Kid Cudi.
Any time “Old Town Road” monopolized the music industry, becoming the
longest-running single to own the No. 1 spot on the
Billboard Hot 100 in the chart’s history and earning him his first two Grammys, Lil Nas X heard the chatter: Appreciate the limelight right now, because you’ve got an one-way ticket to One-Hit Wonderville. The Atlanta-born artist remained clever and confident. That side of him is living his best life on the album’s singles “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” and “Industry Baby,” or “Dead Right Now” and “Dolla Sign Slime” featuring Megan Thee Stallion. Nevertheless the bulk of the project reveals him privately wrestling with the possibility that his haters are right.
At the core of
Montero’s extravagant and often hilarious rollout — the cheesy lawyer billboards, the pregnancy shoots,
The Montero Show — is a window into a resilient soul that resisted to stay damaged in a global designed to keep him down. Lil Nas X is aware right now that he deserves to be heard, and
Montero’s 15 songs will meet you exactly where you are in discovering that, also. Below is a breakdown of the optimal mood for each track.
“Montero (Call Me By Your Name)”
Listen to it once you’re feeling: unapologetically sexy.
Key lyric: “Shoot a child in your mouth while I'm ridin' / Oh, oh, oh, why me? / A sign of the times every time that I speak / dime plus a nine, it was mine every week”
In March, Lil Nas X put “Old Town Road” firmly in the past with the racy release of “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” his
second No. 1 hit. The music video immediately
caused a stir, which reaffirmed why Nas X made it in initial place. Inside of the fantastical visuals live lyrics founded in Nas X’s
real-life experience. Flamenco-based guitars produced by Omer Fedi, Roy Lenzo, and Take a Daytrip amplify his mission to “normalize” provocative homosexual lyrics and queer representation. Lil Nas X had watched the 2017 film
Call Me by Your Name and of course drew direct inspiration, however “Montero” also acts as his lustful Julia Roberts moment as a boy standing in front of a boy, asking him to want him.
“Dead Right Now”
Listen to it any time you’re feeling: vengeful.
Key lyric: “You know I never did you wrong / although I'm right here by the phone, dog / You know you never used to call / Keep it that way now”
The second track is the initial symptom that this album is going to explore the man beyond the memes in a way we haven’t necessarily heard before. “Dead Right Now” showcases Lil Nas X as an anecdotal writer, specifically painting the photos of living with his sister in 2018 soon after dropping out of college, deriving discouragement from his dad about pursuing music (“He mentioned, ‘It’s an one-in-a-million chance, son,’ I instructed him, ‘Daddy, I am that one’”), and witnessing his mom’s addiction. Ultimately, he gets the last laugh. Each person coming out of the woodwork, beware: He won’t be fooled.
“Industry Baby” ft. Jack Harlow
Listen to it as soon as you’re feeling: like flipping off your doubters.
Key lyric: “You was never really rooting for me anyway / Any time I'm back up at the best, I wanna hear you mention / He don't run from nothin', dog / Get your soldiers, tell 'em that the break is over”
This hip-hop anthem is triumphant because the trumpets blaring beyond boastful bars. “Industry Baby,” a No. 2 entry on the Hot 100, positions Lil Nas X because the center of attention four months right after “Montero” caused people to lose their minds and clutch their proverbial pearls. This time, though, Lil Nas X’s muse is himself and his decadent accomplishments. In the music video, which has raised close to $59 million for
The Bail Project, Nas X is sentenced to five years in the Montero State Prison. Three months in, he’s shining his Grammys and getting twerked on by his fellow pink jumpsuit-wearing inmates before they all get naked in the showers. Top to bottom (
power bottom?), “Industry Baby” is Lil Nas X throwing a middle finger from his undeniable throne.
“That’s What I Want”
Listen to it as soon as you’re feeling: lonely.
Key lyric: “I require a baby while I'm in my prime / require an adversary to my down and weary / Like, tell me there's life as soon as I'm stressin' at night / Be like, ‘You'll be OK’ and, ‘Everything is alright’”
With an assist from perennial hitmaker Ryan Tedder, “That’s What I Want” proves high-energy acoustics along with a down-and-out protagonist to be the ideal blend. Lil Nas X is on the quest for love, however he’s tired of the ambiguity. In what he called his “
favorite video I ever made,” Nas X is donning a pink football uniform and making eyes with his teammate (“That afro Black boy with the gold teeth / He dark skin, lookin’ at me like he know me / I wonder if he got the G or the B”). They can’t contain their lust if they hit the locker room. Lil Nas X’s romantic luck generally seems to be turning around, nevertheless his crush is leading a double life — leaving Nas X alone again (“‘Cause it don’t feel right as soon as it’s late at night / And it’s just me in my dreams”).
“The Art of Realization”
Listen to it any time you’re feeling: like venting.
Key lyric: “It's like for who? / Is it for me? Am I happy?”
This track only needs 24 seconds to pierce the heart. The muffled audio recording catches Lil Nas X in an epiphany, as if someone was secretly recording therapy. He’s “driving a lot” — driving literally, driving narrative, driving sales — yet he isn’t sure that he actually has a direction.
“Scoop” ft. Doja Cat
Listen to it as soon as you’re feeling: on top of the world.
Key lyric: “I been movin' work on the day-to-day / Baby, I ain't tryna be your baby / Understand, I'm just tryna be the daily”
Right after a fast “Art of Realization” intermission, we’re thrown back inside the trenches of Lil Nas X’s braggadocio. The initial verse references
Nasarati, his 2018 debut mixtape that he since admitted was “
just me acting really hard … because it felt like that’s what I had to do,” and three years later, Nas X has the bona fides to authentically play the part he thought he was willing to play back then. Scrolling Twitter get the “scoop”? Expect to be able to see Lil Nas X. Doja Cat’s verse emphasizes the required dedication to get to that level (“All them rehearsals got me tight, look at the payoff”) and dusts away disrespectful criticisms with catchy disses of her own (“He named my right cheek Jennifer and left one Lopez / Can’t call me silly with this big ol’ fuckin’ forehead”).
“One of Me” ft. Elton John
Listen to it as soon as you’re feeling: like indulging the negative voice in your mind.
Key lyric: “You's a meme, you's a joke, been a gimmick from go / all of the things that you do, just to get your face to show”
Just any time while you think Lil Nas X has put the past in back of him, he dives headfirst into the slander he faced right following the “Old Town Road” boom. The subtle catch is that he’s able to recite back the hate people slung his way, hellbent on making sure he knew he wasn’t going to last, while Sir Elton John plays piano in the background as a visitor on his debut album.
“Lost in the Citadel”
Listen to it as soon as you’re feeling: stuck between closure and nostalgia.
Key lyric: “My guardian angel / I only seen you in your halo / I was hoping we may stay close / Nevertheless we no longer sing the same notеs”
Sonically, this is a standout moment on the project because it further solidifies Lil Nas X’s cross-genre ability and appeal. Produced by John Cunningham, who is known for working with the late XXXTentacion and most recently wrote on Halsey’s rock-fueled If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, “Lost in the Citadel” is dripping in pop-punk angst. Nas X isn’t just someone desperate to be loved; he is someone who has experienced what he imagined to be true love, lost it, and struggled to truly let go.
“Dolla Sign Slime” ft. Megan Thee Stallion
Listen to it any time you’re feeling: drenched in “Hot Girl” confidence.
Key lyric: “Yeah, album gon’ hit like it’s ‘82 / Got a new whip and it’s navy blue / Top of the game, only 22”
And we’re back to in-your-face hip-hop. The Montero tracklist is jumpy, jerking listeners around from one genre or mood into a contrasting one, and that’s the point: No path is linear, especially the path to success and self-love. However if the destination is flaunting with Megan Thee Stallion about sex appeal, wealth, and your debut album that slaps like Michael Jackson’s Thriller? Keep going.
“Tales of Dominica”
Listen to it once you’re feeling: anxious.
Key lyric: “Hope my little bit of hope don't fade away / I've Been living on an island made from fate / Can't go running back to house, I can't facе her face”
By this point, Nas X has customary how he has at times destructively internalized doubt, and the effects of that persist here (“Could I be wrong? Was everybody right about me? / Scary things in my head”). Dark, alternative-leaning “Tales of Dominica,” nevertheless again tag-teamed by Fedi and Take a Daytrip, finds Nas X “living in my lowest, it’s safe to say,” however not in the literal sense. From the outdoor looking in, he’s at his highest. The problem is that he’s terrified of waking up to find it all gone, to be dumped back inside the hollowness he grew up in. This song takes a more poetic approach than “Dead Right Now” to addressing his painful family member roots, though the message is still loud and clear: He came from a damaged house, and soon after making it out, his biggest fear is ending up alone anyway.
“Sun Goes Down”
Listen to it any time you’re feeling: alone and wanting to know that you’re not actually alone.
Key lyric: “Don't wanna lie, I don't want a life / Send me a gun and I'll visualize the sun / I'd rather run away”
right after Lil Nas X met his now-frequent collaborator Omer Fedi, he penned his most bluntly weak single to date. “Sun Goes Down” dropped in May, as did its
deeply cathartic music video, and while the song didn’t crack the best 10, external validation was never the aspiration. This song is about internal peace. Over somber guitar and punctuating beats in all of the correct places, Nas X speaks to his younger self, who contemplated suicide and struggled to come to terms with his sexuality. Present-day Nas X is to be able to see that “there’s so much more to life than dying” and revel in his well-earned happiness.
“Void”
Listen to it once you’re feeling: confessional.
Key lyric: “Hello old friend from the road / I wanted to write a note / To let you know that, all in all, it ain’t all what it seems”
Produced by Cunningham and Grammy-nominated Carter Lang (SZA’s Ctrl), “Void” ties all of the album’s themes over ethereal beats. Lil Nas X is again feeling low, “small because the salt in the sea,” and reconciling with what comes right after breakout success. At the end of the day, he is left with only himself. In the intro, he generally seems to be writing to himself before “Old Town Road” blew up — almost as a warning to get right within himself rather than expecting adoration to repair everything. “Every win gives you more room to lose,” he sings.
“Don’t Want It”
Listen to it any time you’re feeling: reflective.
Key lyric: “Started thinkin’ am I foolish to be funny over things that’s been hauntin’ me all my life? / And I’m fuckin’ living proof that in the event you want it, you could have anything right before your eyes”
because the outdoor noise swells, the loudest voice is still Lil Nas X’s own. Emo rap beats produced by Take a Daytrip and Juice WRLD collaborators DT and Nick Mira underline the power in hindsight. Lil Nas X recounts drinking also much or smoking himself to sleep to avoid pangs of sadness, however every lamenting line is one-upped by an affirmation from the other side. The interlude features spoken awards and news announcements of his accomplishments. It sets up a powerful one-two punch in the next verse (“I wanted fame and I wanted riches / Wanted happiness, wanted forgiveness … Old people in my life should know that I am not the old me”) and chorus (“Tell the devil I can’t have him indoor / Tell the reaper he don’t want it”).
“Life Soon after Salem”
Listen to it any time you’re feeling: numb.
Key lyric: “Why don’t you just take what you want from me? / I think you've got to take what you want and leave”
Cunningham and Lang added Jasper Sheff (Halsey, Miley Cyrus, XXXTentacion) to the mix and plunged even deeper into grungier rock instrumentals. Lil Nas X is again a loner, as he was in “That’s What I Want” and “Lost in the Citadel,” although “Life Soon after Salem” has a key distinction: He doesn’t care anymore. He won’t chase immediately after someone who doesn’t want him. He’s begging this person causing him so much damage to save him from himself, as he can’t help although indulge in their toxic dynamic, and leave him alone.
“Am I Dreaming?” Ft. Miley Cyrus
Listen to it once you’re feeling: existential.
Key lyric: “Oh-oh-oh, never forget me, like I'm your preference song / I'm fadin', replayin' / These thoughts I thought while sinking down / Oh-oh-oh, never forget me, and evеrything I've done”
Fedi and Take a Daytrip’s weaving of Miley Cyrus’s timeless voice into a song about the unpredictability of time and memory is the cherry on top of pristine production leading up to the finale. Although don’t get it twisted: Lil Nas X is never overshadowed. It is his voice that makes the lasting mark. To keep with the album cover’s biblical themes, a line has been drawn: B.M. And A.M. — Before Montero and Immediately after Montero. He might not have figured out just however how to completely absolve his present from the demons of his past, however from this moment on, you will know who he is and what he stands for.
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