He harnessed all the hate he was receiving into his Reputation era with “Call Me By Your Name.”Īs a special nod to the Christians that persecuted him, this incredibly explicit song addressing the experience of being closeted contains many lyrics that allude to biblical stories: “If Eve ain’t in the garden, you know that you can” (replacing Eve with Steve, if you will, in the Garden of Eden) and “I’m not phased I’m only here to sin.” However, as we have seen, Lil Nas X’s intense pain led to his spectacular rebirth. “Take what you want and leave,” he begs his religious persecutors. In a thematically dark song with a listless melody, Lil Nas X expresses his desire for everyone to just go away. Obviously, in this metaphor, he’s the one being burned at the stake. Lil Nas X aptly compares this time of his life to the Salem Witch Trials in his song “Life After Salem.” The initial backlash he got after he came out was from religious people screaming at him that he was going to hell for his sexuality. So it’s fair to say that Lil Nas X understands all the good religion and spirituality can bring to a person’s life. Therefore, it makes sense that on his album cover, he imposes himself on an image of Genesis II– the seventh day of creation in which God rested and enjoyed all that he had created. The creation of his first album is the apex of his career so far. Lil Nas cleverly included the word “Dominica” in the title to show us that he believes that his music is ‘of God.’ He talks about his music being an “island made from faith.” Creating songs was a spiritual experience for him. He addresses this phase of his life in his song “Tales of Dominica,” by talking about his ‘broken home’ and all the hurt, anxiety and sadness of a kid who thinks he’s ‘all alone.’Įventually, he found his greater purpose in music. Up until college, he was drifting through life with nothing to believe in. In his 48-minute “Behind the Album” interview with Zane Lowe, Lil Nas X shares how going through his parents divorce at age 9 disillusioned him with religion and spirituality in general. But when I started to do research on the making of the album, I realized that I could not have been more wrong.įirst, I looked into the meaning behind all of his biblical references. Now, I will defend Lil Nas X until the day I die, but I was disappointed because the album just seemed simple and superficially sad. My friend said it best when he described it as “middle schooler going through his first break up.” When I first listened to Lil Nas X’s new album “Montero” all the way through, it gave me sad boy “don’t hit me up” vibes.
Statistics of Lil Nas X’s debut album, “Montero.” The album was released Sept.