Lil Nas X gives Satan a lapdance in defiantly queer video for ‘Montero (Call Me by Your Name)’
"They will say I'm pushing an agenda. But the truth is, I am."
By Will Stroude
Words: Will Stroude
After creating the longest-running Billboard Number One single (19 weeks) and highest certified song ever in the US (14x Platinum) with ‘Old Town Road’ a rap-country crossover that won fans among two of music’s most socially-conservative audiences, many might have assumed that Lil Nas X would play it safe when it came to expressing his sexuality through music.
How wrong those people were.
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The trailblazing rapper and singer, 21, has refused to shy away from his queerness since he came out publicly as gay in summer 2019 at the height of ‘Old Town Road’s success, and his brand new single ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’ looks set to be another mainstream smash that injects gay themes directly into the heart of the hip-hop genre.
An ode to hooking up on the DL, ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’ references both Lil Nas X’s birth name, Montero, and the acclaimed 2017 gay romantic drama starring Timothee Chalamet and Armie Hammer.
Sexy, tongue-in-cheek lyrics like “I’m not fazed, only here to sin / If Eve ain’t in your garden, you know that you can” are reflecting in the track’s proudly queer new video, which sees Lil Nas X booted from the Garden of Eden after making out with the serpent (played by himself) before descending to hell, where he promptly gives Satan himself a lap dance in a pair of black thigh-high stripper heels.
To say we are L-I-V-I-N-G for it would be an understatement.
The release of ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’ was accompanied by a heartfelt open letter from Lil Nas X addressed to his 14-year-old self, which the Georgia-born star shared on Instagram on Friday (26 March).
In it, Nas reflected on his own journey coming to terms with his sexuality, and his willingness to incur the wrath of close-minded listeners in order to “open doors for many other queer people to simply exist.”
“Dear 14 year old Montero, I wrote a song with our name in it. It’s about a guy I met last summer”, writes Lil Nas X.
“I know we promised to never come out publicly, I know we promised to never be ‘that’ type of gay person, I know we promised to die with the secret, but this will open doors for many other queer people to simply exist.
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“You see this is very scary for me, people will be angry, they will say I’m pushing an agenda. But the truth is, I am. The agenda to make people stay the f**k out of other people’s lives and stop dictating who they should be.”
“Sending you love from the future – lnx”
Watch the video for Lil Nas X’s ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’ below: