YouTuber Lewys Ball wishes Lil Nas X had been around when he was younger

Words:Brian Leonard

Lil Nas X holds a special place in YouTuber Lewys Ball’s heart, so when we asked him to help us out with a reading to mark Pride, it was obvious where to pick from.

Lewys, 23, got to sit in the plush setting of the back seat of a Bentley Flying Spur as he took part in Speaking of Pride, empowered by Bentley.

“When I was younger,” Lewys tells us “around the age of 11, 12 my lifelong goal was to be a pop princess, selling out Wembley, doing the whole trap door, three outfit changes, choreography for days.

While the vlogger looked up to the likes of Nicki Minaj, Beyoncé, and Rihanna he adds that he wished he’d had someone like Lil Nas X around. 

“[Someone] to look up to and see myself in alongside all these other talented people, I think it would just make me so happy.”

Compared to Lil Nas X hits like ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’ Lewys’ choice, ‘Sun Goes Down’ is a deeper, more personal track from the 23-year-old rapper.

“It’s a song that resonates with me because I’m sure so many people have felt this feeling when you go to bed at night and you’re just left with your thoughts and you’re like, Why is life not life-ing? Why am I not fitting in? Why am I not like everyone else?

“This isn’t supposed to be going the way it is, and it just sort of feels like it will never work out,” continues Lewis.

Previously Lil Nas X has called ‘Sun Goes Down’ his most “vulnerable” song.

As part of Speaking of Pride, empowered by Bentley, £500 is being donated to a charity of Lewys’ choosing. He has chosen the trans charity, Mermaids.

“Mermaids began as a group of concerned parents wanting to keep their children happy and is now a leading LGBTQ+ charity. Their work is life-changing in supporting young people and their families,” says Lewys.

Also stepping into the back seat of a Bentley Flying Spur this year are Olympic champion and Strictly trailblazer Nicola Adams, who will recite a poem by fellow boxing legend Muhammed Ali, Pretty Little Liars actor Julian Morris, who reads Carol Ann Duffy’s sensual queer poem ‘Warming Her Pearls’. 

Author Jack Guinness delivers the forward from his acclaimed 2021 book The Queer Bible while Firebird star Tom Prior who reads a passage from The Story of Roman; the book that his recent LGBTQ romantic drama is based on.

Finally, star of The Chase Paul Sinha turns to the band that “soundtracked his life” – Pet Shop Boys – for his reading; a recital of their 1990 track ‘Being Boring’, which Sinha describes as a “life-affirming anthem to hedonism and the acute sense of loss people feel along the way”.

Speaking of Pride, empowered by Bentley is part of Attitude Pride at Home, which runs from 9-19 June on attitude.co.uk, youtube.com/attitudemag, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (@attitudemag).

Attitude Pride at Home is to benefit the Attitude Magazine Foundation for LGBT causes. 

To donate £3 please text ATHOME3 to 70480 or click here.