Montero
Lil Nas X's Montero breaks new ground for the young pop star
On top of an already extremely successful and influential music career, Lil Nas X released his debut album, Montero, on September 17. Lil Nas X had an incredible leap into the music industry with his song "Old Town Road," which ended up taking the mantle of being the longest running #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100. The rapper then followed up this success with the same amount of production value and catchiness with his next set of releases, “Panini”, “Holiday”, and his debut EP, 7.
In order to market his debut album, the rapper made use of quite shocking imagery. Lil Nas staged a "pregnancy" photoshoot, naming his "due date" as the album's release date. This example of nonsensical humor is part of the rapper's brand, and he used it effectively to build excitement for his upcoming album. This isn’t the first instance of shocking imagery being used to promote Lil Nas- in recent months, the rapper has made headlines on quite a few occasions.
It all started on March 26 of this year, when the rapper debuted his latest single, “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)”. The accompanying music video made use of very distinct and surprising satanic imagery, which stirred up some controversy. Shortly afterwards, Lil Nas announced the release of his own pair of shoes, dubbed the Satan Shoes, which only raised more suspicion about the artist’s supposed worship of the devil. Despite all of the controversy and ill press surrounding his name, Lil Nas was able to use this to his advantage, even staging a fake court hearing in order to announce the release of his latest single “Industry Baby.”
Despite whatever controversies that are linked to him, it’s hard to deny that Lil Nas X is a breakthrough success. With this debut album being just as good as the singles the rapper has released, expect to see at least 90% of the album charting in the top 100.
This is Jacob's second year on the Edge staff and sixth year at Edgewood. He really enjoys writing and creating stories. He hopes to continue writing further past high school, and wants to be able to discuss everything going on at Edgewood.