Jan 4
'Y'all Ready for a Show?' Lil Nas X Teases New Album in Instagram Post
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
Lil Nas X is getting ready to unleash his next album.
The openly gay recording artist took to Instagram Jan. 2 with a stylishly minimal image that featured him in angel garb, posed against a gray background and clutching a machine gun. In the caption, Nas X wrote: "i know it's been 2 years but....yall ready for a show?"
A second slide showed rolling green fields and a stormy sky. As animated rain fell, a stylized, multi-hued symbol sprouted.
Social media followers gleefully interpreted the symbol as Nas X poking fun once again at religious conservatives. "'its a satanic symbol!!' womp womp," one person posted.
Another chimed in: "You know it's gonna b fire when the Christians STILL follow him just to leave these comments on a new release"
Others just celebrated the advent of new music. "YES FINALLY PRAISE BE😭😭😭😭😭," one follower enthused.
The symbol hearkens back to the artist's debut album, "Montero," having been used as temp art for that project. Later on, Nas X got a tattoo of the glyph, which UK newspaper the Daily Mail described as "a custom Aries symbol," which tracks since Nas X is an Aries whose birthday falls on April 9.
But that might be lost on the anti-gay set, who were quick to a moral panic over the satanic imagery used in the video for "MONTERO (Call Me by Your Name)," the lead single for Nas X's debut album. In that video - which mocks the religious claim that LGBTQ+ people are destined to go to Hell - Nas X descends to the underworld and seduces the devil.
In another instance of pranking the religious right, art collective MSCHF modified 666 pairs of Nike's Air Max 97s shoes to create "Satan Shoes" that featured a pentagram and a drop of human blood injected into the soles. The shoes prompted a suit from Nike (the suit did not name Nas X).
More recently, Nas X announced his "Christian Era" as a recording artist and launched a new website to go with it. In comments about his "Christian Era," Nas X noted that "making christian music does not mean i can't suck d-k no more," and declared, "i am allowed to get on my knees for multiple reasons."
Fans of Lil Nas X may be on their own knees in rapture over the good news, but more likely than not they will soon be on their feet and dancing - an eventuality the artist himself seemed to anticipate in a followup Insta post in which he tackled pre-release criticism of his work.
"when i started making music yall told me i was just anther twitter rapper," the "Industry Baby" singer recalled. "then i made the biggest song of all time" - a reference to his 2018 genre-crossing hit "Old Town Road."
"yall called me a one hit wonder," Nas X went on to add. "then i dropped one of the most streamed albums of the year with 3 top 5 hits."
"now yall saying my new shit not finna do nothing," Nas X continued. "at some point yall gotta realize i am gods favorite."
Quipped one clever follower: "if you're my favorite, does that make me god? 😏"
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
