I’ll be honest, I had not heard of Lil Nas X prior to his re-release of his hit Old Town Road featuring Billy Ray Cyrus. I came to know of the song via Twitter and the story behind it. Briefly, rapper Lil Nas X released the song and it made the country charts but Billboard pulled it off, saying it didn’t “embrace” enough country song elements (it does). Lil Nas X was understandably upset and made a plea to country artists for help, which is exactly what Billy Ray Cyrus did and the song took off. Since then, Lil Nas X has been performing for huge crowds, including this incredible cute video at Lander Elementary school. He and Billy Ray performed on the BET Awards and just this weekend they joined Miley Cyrus at Glastonbury, which Lil Nas X said was his first time in another country.
But travel and Glastonbury weren’t the biggest news from the Lil Nas X camp this weekend. On the final day of Pride Month, Lil Nas X told the world that he was gay but tweeting his song, c7osure and telling his fans to listen closely to the lyrics:
some of y’all already know, some of y’all don’t care, some of y’all not gone fwm no more. but before this month ends i want y’all to listen closely to c7osure. 🌈🤩✨ pic.twitter.com/O9krBLllqQ
— nope (@LilNasX) June 30, 2019
The lyrics to c7osure include:
“True say, I want and I need to let go, use my time to be free. Ain’t no more actin’, man that forecast say I should just let me grow/No more red light for me baby, only green, I gotta go/Pack my past up in the back, oh, let my future take ahold/This is what I gotta do, can’t be regrettin’ when I’m old.”
Most people assumed this song was Lil Nas X’s official coming out but as he didn’t outright said, “I am gay,” it left some guessing. Things got a little more definitive when he posted this tweet:
deadass thought i made it obvious pic.twitter.com/HFCbVqBkLM
— nope (@LilNasX) June 30, 2019
Between Lil Nas X’s announcement and all the Pride celebrations Sunday, what a great way to close out Pride Month! I’m glad Lil Nas X doesn’t have to hide behind a façade any longer, although it sounds like maybe he wasn’t hiding as much as just not commenting on his preferences. For what it’s worth, I think c7osure is a great song on its own and it’s message just makes it better.
Beyond just his music, I love following Lil Nas X on Twitter because he retweets cool content. He’s also really funny, which he proved, once again, after his announcement on Sunday:
it’s true i am a guy https://t.co/7hsG0TEm8i
— nope (@LilNasX) July 1, 2019
“so that’s what he meant by ride til i cant no more 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂” pic.twitter.com/U5kck2rMYT
— nope (@LilNasX) July 1, 2019
old town road is literally about horses.
— nope (@LilNasX) July 1, 2019
You know what makes me the happiest? That at the crest of his wave of popularity in the rapping and country music communities, Lil Nas X celebrated by living out his true self. This sends a great message to those coming up behind him. I hope he enjoys a long and lucrative career.
Photo credit: Twitter and WENN Photos
I had heard that many people in the LGBTQ community already knew because of previous characters he had created before his massive hit song. It will be interesting to see what happens now
On Pajiba, ATL ladies agreed to be honorary aunties and Becky B*tchslapping Squads for Lil’ Nas X as needed. Hopefully he’s going to be just fine.
Good for him.🌈
+1
He looks happy and like he is REALLY into costume. Those outfits remind me of The Village People! LOL
Also, that clip of kids in a school brought tears to my eyes! Kid energy en masse, singing his song! Woohoo!!
Congrats to him 🏳️🌈, ride on Lil Nas X, ride on.
The light blue cowboy suit….I want.
He was hilarious on twitter before Old Town Road. It actually took me awhile to realize he was the same guy whose tweets I’d been laughing at lol I’m happy that he came out and I hope he continues to find happiness and success. He seems like a good kid 😊
He’s awesome on Twitter and fun to follow. I’m so happy for him. I was at a Midland concert this weekend and they played Old Town Road right before the band came out and the entire, diverse crowd was singing along. It was fun to see that! I wish him well.
I love him. He’s adorable and his tweets are too funny.
I’m so happy he feels comfortable to be open about his sexuality. He’s been kind of the punching bag of stan twitter because OTR blocked Taylor, Bieber, Shawn, etc. from #1. It was awful to see so many tweets making fun of him, posting his old tweets and trying to expose him before he was ready. Have more empathy, people.
That kid is living his best life right now and it’s a joy to watch him. He was so cute with how excited he got about meeting Rihanna (which, obvi).
Also, now that he mentions it, some of his costuming choices might have also been a sign. Lol. Those are some fantastically flamboyant cowboy costumes. Honestly, I always thought they were an interesting choice but they didn’t ping my radar (so to speak) because I just assumed I was too old (and white) and that they were just cool (which to be fair, might also be true).
My first “encounter” with him was seeing that grade school video, so damn cute. He’s so great and I wish him continued success and happiness.
I really like this guy and wish him all the best.
He’s straddling two industries with notorious homophobic elements, so coming out was incredibly brave. I hope it brings him more happiness than it does trial.
This guy is so chill.
I like authentic people.
Apparently Lil Nas has a history of posting Islamaphobic and hateful tweets about Muslims. So yeah…this tempers my desire to applaud him. A gay black man in America has no business spewing hate at another marginalized group of people.
Uh oh. I didn’t know that.
I was just about to say that someone’s gonna dig his old tweets. Welp \:
Cool. I hope coming out makes him happy. 😀
Two days ago I asked my kids to show me the video and as soon as I saw it my mind went 🌈. After all he creates this outlandish black character riding a horse belonging to none of the portrayed groups, but appreciating all of them.
Good for him! My six year old loves the old town road song and I’m glad, finally, there’s a rap song she can listen to without 800 curses, so I like him even more for that.
Good for him, and his hit is definitely a banger. On the other hand I do not agree with it having enough elements to deem it country. It has a trap beat typical of today’s hits. As a counter-example, just because I would wear a mohawk combat boots and typical punk getup and sing about anarchy and typical punk themes while the beat was bubblegum pop with my vocals sounding pop too would not make the song eligible to be considered punk or rock.
Getting Johnny Rotten on board might make it more credible and actually give it that stylistic push (like Billy Ray did here), however on its own the argument to include it is very weak.