With each new week, it seems as if Lil Nas X has scored yet another magazine cover feature. People believed that the 22-year-old star would fade into entertainment oblivion following the viral success of “Old Town Road,” but he has managed to release hit after hit in the years that followed. As fans await more information regarding the release of his anticipated Montero album, Nas X chatted with Variety about coming into his own while the world watches attentively.
“I think I spent all of the pandemic making music and crying — no in-betweens,” he told the outlet. “For the first month or so, I did not leave my house, and once I did, I was super overly critical of everything I was making. I was letting everything online get to me and feeling like things were over for me.”
With each new release, Lil Nas X continues to live his truth, however, he hasn’t been widely accepted by everyone. His fans have helped him amass new successes at each turn while others like Boosie Badazz have complained about a “gay narrative” being pushed onto children. Critics seem to be the least of Lil Nas X’s worries.
“Honestly, I believe the pandemic helped me get out of the idea of trying to please everybody, and the idea of ‘He’s a cool gay person; he’s an acceptable gay person,’” he said. “I used to see things like that as a compliment, but it’s not. It just means you’re a people pleaser, and they never become legends. I wanted to be even more authentic in my music and let people into my life. I’m much more confident now — in my music, myself, my sexuality, the things that I believe that I stand for.”
Jack Harlow, who added his voice to Lil Nas X’s “Industry Baby,” commended his collaborator. “I think he’s giving a voice to a lot of people and kids who could use one,” Harlow told Variety. “I think the community he represents could use someone who’s succeeding on a mainstream level — where it can feel like, ‘Yo, you can be No. 1. You can be the greatest.’ I really recognize what he’s doing and I admire him. I admired him long before we met.”
Check out a few stills from Lil Nas X’s feature with Variety below.
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