When conservatives were up in arms about his “satan shoes,” he used their anger and outrage to fuel the marketing narrative for his subsequent single, “Industry Baby.” It would’ve been natural to expect Montero to be just as cleverly barbed and impervious to outsider criticism. When Billboard removed “Old Town Road” from the country charts - and sparked a heated debate about the obsoleteness of genre - X retaliated by releasing a remix with Billy Ray Cyrus. In the three years since he accidentally shot to fame with the viral “Old Town Road,” X has established himself as pop’s pre-eminent troll, a star with such internet meme literacy he seemed to use his jokes as a shield.
A string of songs from his long-awaited debut album Montero dive into his past and pre-fame life for the first time, giving the world a glimpse of who the man under the cowboy hat really is - and who he wants to be. Outside of interviews and cover stories, it’s a past that the pop star has generally opted not to speak too much about, even trying to cover some of it up - until now. Before Lil Nas X was Lil Nas X, he was (and still is) Montero Lamar Hall, an internet-raised, Nicki Minaj-worshipping, meme-posting, closeted gay teen who grew up in a small town outside Atlanta, Georgia.
