Montero

Lil Nas X Reveals The Fantasy-Themed Cover Art For His Debut Album, ‘Montero’

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Lil Nas X goes full-on Lisa Frank in the cover art for his debut album Montero, which he revealed today via social media along with a reminder of its release date, September 17. The cover carries over the fantasy theme from his “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” music video, with glittering columns overlooking a placid stream, all colored in vibrant but soft shades of violet and pink. In the center of the frame, Nas himself hovers in profile (and in the nude) surrounded by a lens flare rainbow.

Nas has spent the last several months hyping up Montero‘s release and proving that no one in the music business is better at promoting a project than he is — not even Drake or Kanye, who’ve spent the last couple of weeks trying to out-troll each other but haven’t put out much (good) music between the two of them. Building on the controversy sparked by his “Montero” music video, Nas teamed up with with a shoe customizer to sell “Satan Shoes” with blood in them, riling Nike and conservative commentators alike, then doubled-down with an onstage kiss during his performance of the song on the BET Awards. Just when Nas’ detractors had reached their breaking point, he really showed out in the “Industry Baby” video, generating even more attention through homophobic rants from elder rappers. It’s all led up to September 17, when Lil Nas will release the debut album that will be sure to have everyone talking.

Montero is out 9/17 via Columbia Records. Pre-save it here.

Lil Nas X Comes Through With A Perfect Parody Of Drake’s Supposed ‘Certified Lover Boy’ Album Art

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This morning, Drake confirmed that his album Certified Lover Boy is set for release on September 3. He did so with an attention-grabbing image, featuring a 4×4 grid of pregnant woman emojis. It appears this image may actually be the album cover, as Ebro Darden has “confirmed” is the case.

Whether or not this image ends up being the actual Certified Lover Boy art, the jokes are already rolling in. Perhaps the best of those, though, has come from Lil Nas X, who decided to parody it by jokingly (probably) revealing his Montero cover art, which looks suspiciously like Drake’s cover. In fact, it’s basically the exact same, except all the female heads have been replaced with male ones.

What’s not a joke is Lil Nas X’s recent accolade: He’s now one of the ten most listened-to artists on Spotify with over 55.4 million monthly listeners. He shared a reaction to that news today, writing, “WOWW THIS IS HISTORY! I LOVE YALL SO MUCH! ‘MONTERO’ THE ALBUM OUT IN 18 DAYS! ITS OUR TIME!”

Meanwhile, he recently wrote of Montero, “creating this album has been therapy for me. i’ve learned to let go of trying to control people’s perception of who i am, what i can do, and where i will be. i’ve realized the only opinion of me that really matters is my own.”

Lil Nas X Reveals The Release Date For ‘Montero,’ His Highly-Anticipated Debut Album

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Lil Nas X has kept fans waiting quite some time for his debut album, which earlier this year he revealed would be titled Montero. The wait has been far from uneventful. Its lead single, “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” caused uproar, while the singles “Sun Goes Down” and “Industry Baby,” with Jack Harlow, has kept things exciting. At long last, Lil Nas X has revealed a release date, and it’s not too far from now.

Montero will be released next month, on September 17. The announcement was made through an album trailer the singer released on Wednesday night. The video is an extension of the one for “Industry Baby,” and it begins with a news anchor — played by Lil Nas himself — calling for information on the singer’s whereabouts after he broke out of prison while comically referring to himself as a “power bottom ‘rapper” and “talentless homosexual.” Next, it transitions to portray Lil Nas driving down a narrow road in the middle of nowhere.

You can watch the trailer for Montero in the video above.

Montero is out 9/17 via Columbia Records. Pre-order it here.

Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Lil Nas X Tells Haters He Will Follow His BET Awards Kiss By Having Sex On Stage

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Lil Nas X has been a polarizing figure as of late, drawing a diverse set of reactions from both sides of every aisle with things like his “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” video or his “Satan shoes.” His latest controversial move was his BET Awards performance of “Montero,” which he ended by making out with one of his male dancers.

He’s already done some clapping back to critics of the performance, like one who accused him of misusing African culture. He replied to that, “y’all really like to pretend homosexuality didn’t exist in african culture.” Now that Nas has had some more time to marinate in the responses to the BET performance, though, he is charting his next steps. Although he’s more than likely joking, he has some plans that, if carried out, would be the most explicit performance in popular music history.

This afternoon, he tweeted, “since y’all still doing all this over a kiss imma just f*ck the n**** on stage next time.”

In less notable but still-interesting Lil Nas X Twitter news today, the rapper shared a trailer for his upcoming album Montero, which he says is “coming soon.” (Back in March, he said it would drop “this summer.”) The video serves as a rundown of his Montero album so far, featuring clips from his recent videos, so check that out below.

Lil Nas X Remembers ‘Crying Like A Crazy Person’ After ‘Holiday’ Wasn’t The Hit He Thought It Would Be

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Lil Nas X has had almost unparalleled success during his short time in the music industry, but that doesn’t mean the young rapper is immune to moments of doubt and disappointment. In a recent cover story with British GQ, Nas remembered a low point after last year’s single “Holiday” didn’t pan out like he thought it would. In fact, he was so upset, Nas told GQ he booked a hotel room just to process his sadness, even breaking down into tears over his feelings.

“I was seeing some nice things,” he told GQ. “But I was seeing a lot of f*cking negativity too. And I was like, ‘Oh sh*t. This is not even in the top 200. Oh god. What the f*ck did I do wrong?”

He even went so far as to tell his manager to cancel an episode of Holiday Plays, a Christmas special starring Miley Cyrus that was scheduled for rehearsals the next day.

“I told my manager, ‘I don’t want to do it,” he continued. “‘Let’s cancel it. Let’s get rid of it. There’s no point. Nobody’s really f*cking with this song.’ I was crying. I was upset with myself. I felt like I’d… failed myself, almost. I was crying like a crazy person. You know one of those times where you cry so hard your f*ckin head hurts? It was like that.”

Little did he know the success of “Montero” was just around the corner, even if more drama was coming there, too, eventually. The life of a pop star/rapper is never fully calm I guess. And even if he was initially a little jealous that Billie Eilish won a Grammy over him, he’s also put that to rest. It’s the growth that’s the best!

Read the full feature here.