Lil Nas X “Montero”: Religion Aside, Let’s Talk About Marketing

Written by: Tanyia Foster

Lil Nas X, has been stirring up heat since the recent release of his music video “Montero (Call Me By Your Name”. In the video, the “Old Town Road” rapper dances with the devil, starting with a pole dance down to hell, followed by giving him a lap dance just before killing him. The satanic nature of the video caused an uproar on social media, and many people called him out for what they considered to be immoral behavior.

The rapper was ready for the backlash, tweeting, “I had 9 months to plan this rollout. y’all are not gonna win bro.” It’s clear that Montero was strategically marketed.

video credited to: Lil Nas X via Youtube

This is not the first time the internet has called Lil Nas out for his decisions. He came out as openly gay, in June 2019, and those who did not agree with him said that he would be going to hell for his “sins”. This is what makes the marketing genius!

Nas X took the negative comment about him going to hell and gave those people visuals to what they were suggesting. All of this leading to the big picture, which is continuing the conversation surrounding the LQBTQ+ community.

“Montero” which is also the rapper’s first name, is actually about a guy he dated, according to one of Lil Nas’ tweets.

“Dear 14 year old montero, I wrote a song with our name in it. it’s about a guy i met last summer. i know we promised to never come out publicly, i know we promised to never be ‘that’ type of gay person, i know we promised to die with the secret, but this will open doors for many other queer people to simply exist.”, a letter he pens to his 14-year-old self.

The video is marketed to the LGBTQ+ community, encouraging them to live in their truth, as well as the music industry to encourage more same sex content.

(post credited to: @LiNasX via Twitter)

Adding on to the marketing of the video, the rapper released 666’s pair of Nike Air Max, which you also see him wearing in the music video.

The black and red, $1,018 sneaker, contain a drop of human blood, and the Bible verse “Luke 10:18”. It’s no surprise that the sneaker stirred up even more backlash, but Lil Nas is collecting a coin along with these hate tweets because the sneaker quickly sold out.

(post credited to:@Saint via Twitter) Nas X has taken the “All press is good press” approach and things worked out the way he wanted them to. The video has over 60 million Youtube views, he has a sold-out sneaker, and the conversation surrounding the comfortability of the LGBTQ community continues.