December 2019 | SMITHSONIAN.COM 53A video of ele-
mentary school
students singing
the breakout
hit with Lil Nas
X went viral in
May. “It was an
incredible sight
to see.”BYLINESBrittany Spanos is a staff writer for Rolling Stone. She
previously profi led Janelle Monáe for Smithsonian.
Kayla Reefer is a photographer and cinematographer
based in Los Angeles.his breakthrough pop hit “Achy
Breaky Heart,” responded to
Lil Nas X’s earlier plea by writ-
ing and recording a new verse
for “Old Town Road,” which
was added to the original. The
remixed version catapulted to
the top Hot 100 spot , where it
stayed for nearly half of this
year , while blocking hit-making
heavyweights like Taylor Swift
and Ed Sheeran from the top.
The next step for Lil Nas X was
proving that he was more than
a one-time viral sensation. That
has worked pretty spectacularly
so far. In June, he released 7, his
debut eight-song EP , that fea-
tured top names in pop, rap and
rock like Travis Barker, Cardi B
and Ryan Tedder. He even asked
Kurt Cobain’s daughter, Frances
Bean Cobain, for permission to
interpolate Nirvana’s “In Bloom”
on his current Top 10 hit “Pani-
ni.” She was a fan of “Old Town
Road” and quickly obliged.
Onstage, Lil Nas X is present-
ing himself as a pop star in the
vein of Usher, one of his favorite
artists growing up. His perfor-
mances now feature choreogra-
phy and backup dancers, which
he debuted at the MTV Video
Music Awards and in the “Panini” music video. On Twitter and
Instagram, he is as fi ercely funny as he was when he was best
known for making memes; he is still creating viral content to
promote his songs and interact with his growing fanbase.
“I wanted to establish, very early on, that I’m not going in
whatever direction I’m expected to go into because I don’t want
to limit myself on what I’m allowed to do,” Lil Nas X explains.
Audiences are still fi guring out how to categorize him. But
he’s happily embracing his expansive talent. “I am a rapper in
my head. I am a singer in my head. I am a pop star,” he says. “I
can try to do as many things as possible.”gia Line and Luke Bryan have been introducing more rap and
hip-hop elements to their “traditional” country sound.
“That is some BS,” the country singer Meghan Linsey tweeted
in response to Billboard’s move, saying the song’s “got plenty of
‘country elements’ and its [sic] as ‘country’ as anything on coun-
try radio, tbh .” Moses Sumney, a singer-songwriter, said, “Lil Nas
X’s country chart removal is discriminatory considering how
hip-hop production is appropriated in today’s pop-country.”
“Old Town Road” was then a perfect storm: Young kids ap-
preciated its meme fodder while older fans, musicians and
critics began taking notice because of the debate about race
and genre it ignited. For his part, Lil Nas X was surprised. “I
didn’t think any conversation would happen,” he says. “I just
thought it would be a nice song that would do good for me.”
Cyrus, who caused his own country music stir in 1992 with