Love him or hate him, Lil Nas X’s marketing plan worked. On Friday, the rapper released his latest single, “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” as well as its accompanying visuals. The song is an infectious, upbeat bop that arrived just in time for the spring but it’s the music video that raised hell, literally. Right-wing pundits and conservative talking heads were furious to see Lil Nas X slide down a pole into the depth of hell only to give Satan a lapdance, snapped his neck, then took his horns.
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The entire rollout for this song and video is seemingly as effective as one would expect. Despite the blowback from the visuals, it seems like many have had the song on steady rotation over the past few days, especially as chart data predicts its debut on the Billboard Hot 100. It looks like Lil Nas X could score his second #1 hit record on the charts.
Fans who’ve been streaming the record could earn themselves a personal gift from Lil Nas X. The rapper took to Twitter to encourage his followers to keep supporting the song, writing, “if call me by your name goes number 1 i’m buying all my followers a 12 pack of hanes socks.”
With the success of his latest single, it looks like we should expect his debut album to arrive later this year.