While Lil Nas X is always part of the popular discourse, he was extremely popular during the release of his album MONTERO. Even before this album came out, the song MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) got so popular that people had to address the visuals from the video and comment on it. In the spirit of Pride Month, we decided to look at the videos from these albums that made such a ripple in popular culture that conservatives and liberals both had to step in and actively look at these videos.
MONTERO Music Videos and Lil Nas X’s Queerness
MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)
This was the first look everyone got at the upcoming album. He had taken up the role of Eve from the Bible and decided to portray the Fall of Man when she eats the apple for the first time. However, in the video, Lil Nas is sent to hell, where he descends through a spinning pole. While the initial visuals of Lil Nas being pleasured by a snake were already very explicit for some people, this visual added even more indignation to them.
However, it is the symbolism in these that is very interesting. While female and queer pleasure are often treated as sins, this rendition of the popular biblical story indicates a grab for power and the authority to change the narrative as they see fit. If Adam and Eve aren’t worthy enough to indulge in their desires, then perhaps hell is the best place for them. The funny thing is that since Eve is associated with all the faults, the video once again explores the idea of taking back control by using hell as a place to conquer.
When the artist gives a lap dance to Satan, it is a symbol to explore how all of these beings are fallible. Satan represents our own temptations that we tamp in order to give way to our sensibilities. The idea that Lil Nas then takes over hell is an even better response to this popular story exploring sin and punishment. Every part of this music video has been a response to him either being too queer or being ‘normal’ even as a queer person.
INDUSTRY BABY
This is such a brilliant video to talk about sexuality and punishment once again. Continuing the theme from last time, we see Lil Nas X in court being sentenced to prison. This is taken from his real-life experience as he apologised for the Satan shoes that contained a drop of blood in them. Once again, the biblical connection proves how modern sensibilities are challenged the moment it comes to religion. This idea of keeping something sacred stops people from taking the fun out of common stories percolated across cultures.
Moreover, the visualisation that he has been imprisoned both because of the shoes and the content from his last music video is a fun little tidbit to remember. Once again, the queer energy is incredibly strong. From the prisoners holding Nas’s inside-out pockets to his choreography in the verses, it is all a visual treat. Additionally, adding the naked dancing, the pink outfits and the incredibly stylised looks subvert the tropes of masculinity in a place that represents the height of everything masculine, violence, masked fear and desensitization.
Nas’s symbolic escape from this prison, then, is a direct call out to the kind of confines he has been put in as an artist and how he manages to break out of that through his song. Jack Harlow’s rap might be good, but she is the irrelevant piece in this music video, as Lil Nas, the background dancers, and Colton Haynes’ cameo make the music for what it is, a visual masterpiece. The latter watching the Montero music video is once again a call back to the fact that all of us have the temptation to do what Nas is doing, except we all push deep down inside.
THAT’S WHAT I WANT
Taking an extreme right turn, this music video explores how even after gaining all these accolades and being the best of the best, almost like he fell from the sky because he’s that out of this world, he is still lonely. The video is set on the football field, which is once again the pinnacle of masculinity expressed. The colour themes of pastel pink and blue are such well-employed elements in the video. Lil Nas X has done a brilliant job of keeping the colour a recurring theme throughout the video, along with the referenced biblical elements.
If INDUSTRY BABY felt a little explicit, this video is a pure celebration of queer pleasure. The artist doesn’t shy away from inserting vulnerability, physical intimacy and proximity to get his point across. Employing only Black Men throughout all the music videos, Lil Nas has managed to give opportunities to people who needed to see themselves on screen. While this music video features a wedding as well (in a Church), we see Lil Nas walking the aisle in a wedding dress, while his groom is tied spread eagle on the board.
Once again, the visuals are extremely strong representations of what he believes to be expressions of masculinity and femininity. Since the past few music videos explore his dominant side, this video manages to show us the other side. The vulnerability behind all this success and the loneliness that comes with being this vocal about himself, his work, his music and everything else. While this reader doesn’t particularly follow Lil Nas X all the time, they are not shying away from admitting that he has produced some of the best visuals celebrating queerness in modern times.
SUN GOES DOWN
In the same vein as the previous song, this one, too, is filled with vulnerability. However, it’s based on the childhood experiences of the artist who had always been a league away from the people in his school. The video explores his teenage and adolescent days living in a place that didn’t manage to accommodate him the way he deserved. While the lyrics are also incredibly sad, the visuals are equally dismaying. This character that he has created for the video is a naive little boy looking for friends or any kind of interaction that doesn’t make him feel out of place.
Once again, Christianity is a looming presence in this music video which comes to life when the character speaks about having god take away all his gay thoughts. This seems to be a watershed moment in his writing because all the aforementioned music videos stem from this one alienating feeling that the almighty somehow doesn’t like people who are queer. The response then makes so much sense, given the kind of social expectation this artist came from. All the fronting comes from a deep-rooted rejection, and it comes through in this music video.
Lil Nas has told the story of how keeping religion at the centre was the only way of telling this story completely. By inviting viewers in through humour and explicit visuals, he takes them on a heart-breaking and heart-warming journey in coming to terms with his queerness. They’re a complete package with all emotions bottled.
All of the aforementioned songs are available to stream on Spotify under the album MONTERO. Which one of these is your favourite music video? Let us know in the comments below.
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