The 22-year-old artist is still breaking barriers one song (and several clapbacks) at a time.
In two hours,Lil Nas Xwill be the happiest he’s ever been.
He’ll shake a bottle of Veuve Clicquot before popping it.
Texas Isaiah for EW
He’ll shout, “They said we would not do it!
We did it again!”
He’ll fire off a dozen celebratory tweets.
Texas Isaiah for EW
Yet the controversy briefly melts away when news finally arrives that “Montero” is aglobal No.
“I’m thankful,” says Nas in an interview later that day.
“But it also feels good to prove people wrong.
It’s one of my driving forces.”
“And it happened.
It didn’t even take a year of making music, and thenboom.”
Meanwhile, the praise he did receive felt seeped in jealousy and back-handed compliments.
“People were like, ‘Oh, he’ll never do that again.
Hope he saves his money,'” he says.
“No, I want to do whatever the f— I want,” he recalls thinking.
“Stop trying to make me give you that next ‘Old Town Road.'”
you’re free to hear that openness on “Montero,” which came out of sheer determination.
“At first I was really afraid of alienating any of my straight fans,” he says.
They were here for whatever version of myself they made up in their head."
Dating and meeting new people have also proved difficult.
I can’t just stop meeting people because of this fear."
“I know we promised to never come out publicly,” he wrote.
You have to love and nourish yourself."
But Nas finally minted his statusin public last year.
But it’s catching on now."
After he came out, though, he found himself on the receiving end of similar responses.
“But now it’s like, okay, cool.
Which isn’t to say he doesn’t just let the hate wash over him.
“I’m very much a chaotic, good person,” he says.
Do I feel bad about it sometimes?
Every now and then, but I feel less bad knowing that I didn’t start it.
Indeed, Lil Nas X is done tiptoeing around how to act in public.
I hope to do that at all times.”
Does that mean Nas is now finally showing the real version of himself to the world?
“It’s not like, ‘Oh God, I have to wear this,'” he says.
“But I don’t mind.”
And if he’s inspiring others to be their authentic selves, then what’s the harm in alittlepretending?
Ira Madison III is a screenwriter based in Los Angeles and host of the pop culture podcastKeep It.
