Lil Nas X Shares A Fascinating Visual Detail About His ‘Montero’ Album Art That Can’t Be Unseen

Adding a new layer to the Montero multiverse, Lil Nas X shared some majestic album art for his forthcoming album earlier today. Depicting the rapper fully in the nude, his back arched and skin glistening, the Lisa Frank-looking design for Montero represents “a continuous loop, to represent the circle of life,” according to Nas’ follow-up tweet. Indeed, when the art is duplicated and stacked vertically, the edges of the art line up to make a continuous image.

Then, the “Industry Baby” rapper laid out some more visual inspirations for Montero, posting images of SpongeBob SquarePants and John Stephens’ Genesis II. The tracklist, he said, would arrive tomorrow.

Just a few days out from Montero‘s release, Lil Nas X has definitely been making the most of his promotional cycle, posting his (joking) take on Drake’s Certified Lover Boy emoji art and making nice with Tony Hawk on TikTok.

“Growing up in the Atlanta area, I [saw] a lot of microaggressions towards homosexuality,” Nas recently told Out Magazine in a cover story about growing up in the South and his coming out process. “Little things like going into an IHOP and hearing one of your family members say ‘look at those faggots’ to two people eating or even just a small [statement like] ‘boys don’t cry.’ Little sh*t like living in the hood, not being super into sports, and then having to go outside and pretend that I was. [I remember] pushing that part of myself in more and more, almost convincing myself that it’s not even actually there,” he added.

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.”

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