Lil Nas X

Lil Nas X has a life-altering crush in his new single “Need Dat Boy.” Over a slowly morphing beat that goes from moody ballad to an uptempo, drum-n-bass beat, Nas describes the feeling of yearning, admitting, “I been lookin’ for a muse, need a new persona / Put your picture on my wall, you my new Madonna.” However, as he reveals in the second verse, it isn’t just about satisfying his physical needs, but also kick-starting his creativity. “Man, f*ck this pity party,” he sneers. “When I’m back up I’m shootin’ shots at everybody.”

He already got started on that goal, clapping back at Azealia Banks after she called him washed up. Even before this, Nas wasn’t shy about supporting his claim in “Need Dat Boy” that “a lot of y’all are just my peers, y’all ain’t my friends,” noting that only Jack Harlow was down to collaborate with him after he came out.

Still, it seems the goal of his new album, Dreamboy, is more to recenter himself, seeking his own validation rather than that of peers, partners, or fans. His Dreamboy trailer and the album’s first single, “Light Again,” addressed this goal, and from the sounds of things, he’s well on his way.

You can listen to Lil Nas X’s new single, “Need Dat Boy,” above.

Dreamboy is coming soon via Columbia Records.

Lil Nas X’s Dreamboy era is well underway, with the earnest trickster releasing the new single, “Light Again,” last week — and a new single on the way this Friday, November 22. Lil Nas teased the new single on social media with a glimpse of its potential cover art, a racy photo of Nas apparently making out with a paramour in the backseat of a car. According to the accompanying tweet, the song is called “Need Dat Boy.”

https://twitter.com/LilNasX/status/1858972051291373934

Nas has been teasing new music for much of the year, but prior to “Light Again,” most of his actual output was confined to guest appearances, movie soundtracks, and his mixtape, Nasarati 2. The mixtape, which was named after his 2018 debut mixtape, featured tracks like “Lean On My Body” and “Trust Me,” and was only available on Nas’ SoundCloud, as it was apparently an unsanctioned release that he believed would get him in trouble with his label — particularly an early demo of “Light Again.” In May, he appeared on Kevin Abstract’s single, “Tennessee,” then on Camila Cabello’s C, XOXO single He Knows.” Finally, just before kicking his album rollout into high gear, he landed the song “Here We Go!” on Netflix’s Beverly Hills Cop sequel, Axel F. We’ll get to see the direction he’s going this Friday.

In the first trailer for his upcoming album, Dreamboy, Lil Nas X introduces his alter ego via a cheeky and borderline profane short story. In the trailer, Nas plays a castaway, floating in the middle of the ocean on a makeshift raft. A flash of light races across the sky, and Nas encounters the titular Dreamboy, a Power Rangers-esque being who introduces himself as a version of Lil Nas X who tells him, “I’m gonna help you save yourself. It’s time to remember who you are — who you really are.” However, Nas’ response is less than satisfactory, and Dreamboy shows himself a little tough love to get him started on the journey as the album’s first single, “Light Again,” kicks in.

Nas had previously teased the upcoming album on social media, writing, “I just want to release music, but expectations are just like… insane. Like, I can’t even have fun. I just want to f*ckin’ have fun with this sh*t. I don’t even give a f*ck about all the other sh*t. Of course, I want to, like, be No. 1 all the time, I want every song to go up, and I want you to go crazy. But it’s like, at the same time, I want to f*ckin’ have fun. I want to go and live life, I just want to make music.” Incidentally, he had already given glimpses of the Dreamboy uniform at the MTV VMAs.

As far as pressure goes, even he knows he has little to worry about; after queer culture’s resident megahater Azealia Banks said he “fell off,” he reminded her (and the world at large) “i could never make a hit song again and you would still never in ur bussy soap selling chicken sacrificing botched body hating ass miserable life reach a 10th of my success.”

Check out the first Dreamboy trailer above.