Lil Nas X has made waves yet again thanks to his latest single. Now, he wants to help you understand exactly what he’s talking about.
On Monday (March 29), Genius released their latest “Genius Verified” video with Lil Nas X, where the rapper went line by line through “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” to explain exactly what it is he wanted to say with the provocative new song.
The rapper said he began writing the song at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when he rented out an Airbnb to begin working on his upcoming album. In the process of writing and recording, Lil Nas X says, he was invited to visit a friend’s new house when he realized, “‘Oh I like this guy a lot,’ and I started writing the song the next day.”
The opening lines of the song, he said, track the literal interaction he had with the guy, from being called up, his wish to “catch you throwing smiles in my face,” and seeing his friend partying, doing drugs and drinking his time in quarantine away. “I can’t pretend I don’t see you doing this sh–, and I can’t pretend I don’t notice these things,” he said about his friend’s sexuality.
Trending on Billboard
When it comes to the song’s title, Lil Nas X fully acknowledges that he was deeply influenced by the 2017 film of the same name and wanted to create an anthem where he fully embraced his sexuality. “That was one of the first gay films that I had watched, and I thought the theme was so dope of calling somebody by your own name,” he said. “The way everything is shot, the way the dialogue goes on, the way the background sounds are used, everything about it is so artsy.”
As for some of the song’s more openly sexual lyrics, the rapper says that was fully intentional. The line “shoot a child in yo’ mouth while I’m ridin’,” he said, was intended to be jarring, while also helping break a stigma around lyrics focused on queer lust. “I was like, ‘It’s about time I say something out of pocket in a song,'” he said, chuckling. “Let’s normalize having these f—ing lines in songs, the same way somebody might talk about f—ing a girl or f—ing a guy.”
He continued, saying that he wants to continue making content to help bring queer narratives forward into mainstream music. “I feel like that’s really important for representation in general,” he said. “And this is gonna open more doors for one day when someone’s like, ‘Oh, this person said that, and I didn’t even think about it.'”
Overall, Lil Nas X is proud of how the song turned out — even if it is causing controversy — because he wants to show the industry that this kind of queer narrative can exist in popular music. “It has so many key points, even surrounding the song … which is why it’s going to be super important for me, and for so many other people,” he said.
Check out Lil Nas X’s full breakdown of “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” below: