Speaking with, Lil Nas X’s visual collaborators - choreographer Sean Bankhead, "Industry Baby" music video director Christian Breslauer, Roc Nation Creative Director of Live Performances Jed Skrzypczak and skit director Adrian Per - about the visually distinct MONTERO, creating career-defining performances on stage and online, and celebrating Lil Nas X as an unflinching Black, gay pop-rap star. Recreating the scene on the MTV Video Music Awards stage, Nas reinforced his commitment to performance as an art and bold representation. More frenzy followed the "Industry Baby" music video, particularly in response to a scene where Lil Nas X dances naked in a bright pink prison shower with half a dozen male dancers. When the CGI stripper pole burst through the clouds in "MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)," it shattered the glass ceiling on its way down - and he was just getting started.Īfter unveiling an unauthorized limited edition pair of Nike Air Max 97s - made with a drop of real human blood - he flipped the Nike lawsuit that followed into an elaborate courtroom skit announcing "Industry Baby," his collaboration with Jack Harlow that’s nominated for Best Melodic Rap Performance. To have an artist not only exist, but excel, at the intersection of Blackness and queerness, as both a rapper and a pop star, is nothing short of revolutionary. That’s the thing about Lil Nas X: The over-the-top music videos and quick-witted Twitter clapbacks are all gasoline poured onto the already blazing fire of his mere existence. "MONTERO" has been nominated for both Record and Song of the Year, and the LP is up for Album of the Year. Lil Nas X stretched the bounds of both his identity and his artistry at every turn, expertly spinning the backlash to "MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)" into a multi-layered promotional spectacle. More importantly, MONTERO received an outpouring of encouragement from the communities who encounter the same adversity. The video spectacle sparked conversation far beyond its comment section and was boosted, in part, by backlash from people weighing in on his queer identity.
It was unabashedly sexual and provocative, a pertinent introduction to MONTERO, his eponymous debut album (the musician was born Montero Lamar Hill). Lil Nas X pole dances his way to the throne and secures his spot, displacing the devil with a spicy lap dance and a swift decapitation. Welcome to Montero." What follows is a brazen voyage into the depths of hell.Ĭo-directed by Lil Nas X and Tanu Muino, the video is a theatrical extravaganza that stars the rapper in nearly every role: a devious snake, a banished Adam, a crowd of stone spectators.
"In life, we hide the parts of ourselves we don’t want the world to see," he says in the introduction. In the music video for "MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)," Lil Nas X opens the gates of his visual empire.