Photo courtesy of The Queer Review

Controversy has struck the music industry once again. On March 26, up-and-coming rapper Lil Nas X released one of the most controversial songs of the year. But was the song itself the spark of controversy? 

In 2019, Lil Nas X debuted in the world of music with a collaborative piece featuring country star and father of Miley Cyrus, Billy Ray Cyrus. “Old Town Road” was on the Billboard Hot 100 list for 19 weeks straight and paved its way to winning “Best Duo/Group” performance and “Best Music Video” at the 2020 Grammy Music Awards. Throughout this song, Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus explain what the rockstar lifestyle is like and how you have to start at the bottom and build yourself up. But the meanings of some verses have been disregarded until Lil Nas X’s new song has been released. In the second verse, he starts to rap about what happens after the desired rockstar lifestyle is achieved. Unfaithful relationships, the use of hard drugs and living life as if it were a movie where you were the main character was the true meaning of the song. Following the 2019 release of his EP, which included his two hits, “Panini” and “Old Town Road,” both the remix and the original, he released a stand-alone single called “Montero (Call Me By Your Name).” 

In June 2019, Lil Nas X came out as gay, and since then he has been an activist in the LGBTQ+ community, sharing his story of acceptance and fame. The title of his new single derives, partially, from the movie “Call Me By Your Name,” a gay love story starring Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer, where the characters fall in love and show appreciation for each other by calling each other by their own names. In a Genius interview, Lil Nas X explained that, although Montero is his real name, it is a reference to a past love of his. 

But the title is not what sparked a media frenzy. The music video is the main root of the controversy, as the song is rich in symbolism and thematic importance stemming from Greco-Roman influences and Medieval Christianity. Throughout the three-minute video, you see Lil Nas X playing almost every character in the video, symbolizing his journey of finding himself and coming to terms with his sexuality.

 The video is split up into three parts with three different settings. It takes place in a symbolic rendering of the Garden of Eden, The Colosseum and Hell. In the video, you can see references to the Garden of Eden, where it is referred to as “Montero.” The symbolic relevance of the names relates to the concept where sexuality is referred to as evil and sinful, and the point of this visual is to show Lil Nas X coming to terms with his sexuality. 

When Lil Nas X gets seduced by the serpent that approaches him, he goes to the Colosseum to learn what his fate is. Throughout the second act, he is dressed in a bubblegum-colored Marie Antoinette-Esque wig and simple face makeup. He is seen shackled and being dragged by two of himself, dressed the same ­and wearing baby blue wigs. He is then seen floating up to heaven, but he gets stopped by a male angel named Ganymede. Ganymede is a male angel that has turned into a symbol of homosexuality within Greek Mythology. When Lil Nas X is met with Ganymede, he is stopped and gets cast down to Hell, segueing into the third and final act of the video. The most controversial part of this video, and one of the reasons Lil Nas is at the forefront of the media, is that he changes his look to a darker, more seductive aesthetic. He is seen with long red braids, black studded shorts and knee-high leather boots. When cast down to hell, a pole emerges and Lil Nas pole dances down to Hell, landing in a gothic architecturally inspired landscape. He then walks up to Satan who is sitting on a throne and proceeds to sit on his lap and grind on him. The video concludes with him killing Satan and crowning himself with the horns of Satan, mocking the Medieval Christian belief that homosexuality is a sin. 

Following the release of his song, Lil Nas had collaborated with streetwear company MSCHF to make a pair of Satan-inspired Nike Air Maxes. The shoes have a gold pentagram pendant on top and supposedly contain real human blood that was donated by the MSCHF team. This shoe sparked controversy of the unethical use of blood and Satan. Due to the controversy, Nike has claimed that they had no involvement in the production of these shoes and filed a lawsuit that has since been settled. 

Although he is seen as extremely controversial, Lil Nas has given a voice to people who are afraid to speak, expressing that they are not alone.