Lil Nas X - MONTERO ALBUM REVIEW
This is the Debut Full-Length LP from Georgia Singer and Rapper Lil Nas X.
Montero Lamar Hill, aka Lil Nas X, blew up on the popular music scene with an all time hit, Old Town Road which then got remixed and got even bigger due to a Billy Ray Cyrus feature, this track stands at 1.2billion plays at present. He released an EP soon after that included another hit single, Panini. This track was a lot more pop influenced instead of the country rap style that he brought to Old Town Road. Nas continued this trend on the EP and his next few hit singles, first Holiday which did have a rapped verse but the instrumental was a regular pop beat in the current wave of pop and recently the lead single for this record Montero (Call Me By Your Name) which showed that he was looking to make him being gay the forefront of the music in this current chapter of his career. I don’t necessarily mind it because at the end of the day, anyone can rap or sing about whatever they want and especially if it’s something personal. The problem I have with Lil Nas is his music videos. He’s allowed to express himself, but on the Montero single he’s twerking on the devil in the video and that’s just a little bit of a step too far. Industry Baby is one of my favourite Nas tracks because of the fantastic horn passage on the track and the killer Jack Harlow feature. I’m not even necessarily crazy about the track but there’s an insanely catchy aspect to it. I have another problem with this music video though, as it has a scene where there’s multiple naked men dancing in the bathroom. I’m sorry but I don’t swing that way and It ruins the song if you listen to it on the music video. The song itself had a lot of potential though so I was intrigued to see how good Nas can take his obvious high level of talent and see if he can produce some interesting songs with maybe a deeper layer on his sexuality since that was clearly the way he wanted to make his music which I have no problem with. Unfortunately this didn’t happen.
Essentially, what you have with this record is 15 tracks of Nas trying to make the most generic and boring pop songs possible with a twist on the narratives based on his sexuality that is so light and non-substantive that you will barely realise that he’s talking about it. When he tries to make a song that is based on rap beats he fails to perform and is outshined on the track, with the main example being DOLLA SIGN SLIME with Megan Thee Stallion but also SCOOP with Doja Cat. The synths on SCOOP are the most boring synths I’ve ever heard on a track and that goes for most of the instrumentals on this thing. Tracks that come to mind that bore me to sleep are THATS WHAT I WANT, TALES OF DOMINICA, DONT WANT IT, THE ART OF REALISATION and LIFE AFTER SALEM just to name a few. They all sound like he’s trying to be a pop star but if he’s going for radio hits, he’ll be disappointed with the results of this record because none of these tracks are going to out-stream and out-perform Montero or Industry Baby. The biggest chance is THATS WHAT I WANT because the tone deaf teenage girls will eat that shit up and run with it to #1. The Miley Cyrus track is probably the most embarrassing on the record because Nas tries so hard on the track just to be outshined by Miley Cyrus, the daughter of his old collaborator Billy Ray Cyrus. Elton John is nowhere to be seen on the track he features on and Doja Cat, as previously mentioned, carries Nas on that track even though it comes out mediocre.
Nas has a lot of talent and has shown his ability in his early hits to give a nice flow and compliment some good instrumentals but there’s no interesting performances or interesting beats anywhere to be seen on this new LP. In my opinion, he has to focus on his craft more than focusing on letting as many people know he’s gay in his biggest hits but then shying away from making it an interesting topic in his music. He’ll end up sticking to this style and sound though because at the end of the day it’ll get him more radio hits and more money and he cares more about that than improving his ability or showing off evolution in his game. You can see it from a mile away. The teenage girls and the avid radio listeners will love it but I, and a lot of people that are interested in ‘INTERESTING’ music certainly won’t.
I rate this new Lil Nas X a Decent 1.