ICYMI: The Mystery of Montero AKA Lil Nas X (feat. Take A Daytrip)

Switched on Pop

Vox Media Podcast Network

Music Interviews, Music History, Music, Music Commentary

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 28 September 2021

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Lil Nas X has a talent for creating productive controversy. First with “Old Town Road,” he challenged expectations about blackness in country music. Now with “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” he takes aim at anti LGBTQ+ messages propagated by the religious dogma from his youth (he came out as gay during Pride 2019). The song describes a romantic encounter without innuendo. Sure it’s raunchy, but the song doesn’t especially stand out on Billboard where explicit sexual fantasy is commonplace. But his use of religious iconography in his video and merchandise created an immediate backlash. In the video to “Montero,” Lil Nas X rides a stripped pole into hades where he gives a lap dance to Satan (also played by Lil Nas X). Despite the obvious commentary on repressive orthodoxy, religious conservatives failed to see the subtext. The song became a lightning rod. But as pundits fought on social media about the song's meaning, most critics failed to look into the song’s musical references. Produced by Take A Daytrip, the duo behind Shek Wes’ “Mo Bamba” and Lil Nas X’s “Panini,” “Montero'' mashes up genres that take the listener on a global journey, sharing his message of acceptance across cultures. Music Lil Nas X — Montero, Old Town Road, Panini 24kGoldn, iann dior - Mood Dick Dale and his Del-Tones - Misirlou Tetos Demetriades - Misirlou Aris San Boom Pam Silsulim - Static & Ben El Shek Was — Mo Bamba Lehakat Tzliley Haud Bouzouki recording from xserra from FreeSound under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License More Listen to Gal Kadan’s project: Awesome Orientalists From Europa on Bandcamp Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Stream the new Paramount Plus original series 1923 a Yellowstone origin story
0:04.8	and starring Helen Mirren in Harrison Ford
0:08.0	1923 a new series streaming now exclusively on Paramount Plus go to Paramount Plus dot com to try it for free
0:14.6	Welcome to Switched on Pop I'm songwriter Charlie Harding and I'm musicologist Nate Sloan
0:31.5	a few weeks back Lilna Zex puts out this song
0:35.7	Montero parentheses call me by your name that's right and it stirs up all this controversy
0:48.7	Yeah, this is something I'm dimly aware of I know that's maybe some of the mute the imagery in the music video
0:56.6	Created outrage among certain religious groups, but I don't I don't really know much about this yeah and at the time
1:02.7	I just didn't find any interesting musical insights to add to the conversation
1:07.9	Huh, oh boy was I wrong on first listen
1:26.6	But before we get into my findings I think first you might want a quick refresher on Lilna's X
1:32.2	Remember he's particularly good at mashing up genres to make social commentary while simultaneously trolling the entire internet
1:40.3	We of course remember old town road which is a sort of tongue-in-cheek look at how blackness is accepted in country music
1:55.3	And now we have Montero in Montero sort of works differently
2:00.5	This is a much more personal song since old town road came out Lilna's X also came out
2:07.4	This was a big media moment and a big moment for him
2:22.1	This song is really a self-acceptance, self-love song
2:26.9	And one about the sort of his own personal sexual fantasies
2:31.1	I think a lot of people like me maybe wondered if Lilna's X could do another old town road
2:37.1	Could find something that so captures the cultural imagination
2:41.4	So do you know like how is this song doing on the charts?
2:45.1	It's been on charts all over the world right now as we speak at number two on Billboard
	...

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