The longest reigning number one on the Billboards, 8 VMA nominations and a viral sensation on the internet that all celebrities want to hang with, rapper Lil Nas X has surpassed all expectations with his hit ‘Old Town Road’.
What started as a meme on TikTok has turned into one of the greatest hits of all time.
The irony? The song was removed from Billboards Country list for not being “country enough”. Now, it has ruled the Billboard Hot 100 list longer than any other song with 17 weeks on top of the charts, breaking the record previously held by Mariah Carey for ‘One Sweet Day’ for over 23 years.
Upon being pulled from the country charts, Billy Ray Cyrus lent his voice for a remixed version of the song. The music video with Billy Ray Cyrus garnered over 240 million views.
Following the success of the remix with Billy Ray Cyrus, Lil Nas X – still only 20 – has had the opportunity and has worked with renowned artists such as Diplo, Young Thug and BTS among others, to create multiple versions of the song.
From Carey to Justin Bieber, all have wished Lil Nas X for his achievement, and a collaboration with these artists is not out of the question.
Video of the year, song of the year, best new artist, best collaboration, best hip hop, best direction, best art direction and best editing, ‘Old Town Road’ has stormed the MTV VMA’s (Video Music Award’s) with nominations in the following categories.
This is the highest number of nominations any artist has got in their debut year on the VMA’s.
The song was first reported by the artist in October, 2018, using a backing track he bought online for $30. The song gained it’s initial traction on the infamous social media plat form — TikTok. On TikTok, users were using it as a background score for lip-syncing wearing cowboy boots, reported BBC.
Even though there are many versions of the song with different artists, all remixes are close to the original and hence count towards the version that was released in collaboration with Billy Ray Cyrus, helping it rise in the charts.
The Rolling Stone credited Lil Nas X for having explored the lesser known genre, a crossover of hip-hop and country.
Lil Nas X (aka Montero Hill), has had his life turned around since the release of 'Old Town Road'.
As recently as February, Lil Nas had barely left northern Georgia. In March this year, he flew to New York to meet with managers and sign his record deal. This was the second time he had been on an airplane, Lil Nas X told the told Rolling Stone.
With his current success attracting attention from around the globe, we might see Lil Nas X perform with multiple non-english speaking artist's. His newest single - ‘Seoul Town Road’ - another remix of his song with Korean band BTS has gathered close to 10 million views within a week.
Lil Nas X has seen a dramatic rise in his followers gathering over 2.5 million followers on Twitter, however, it his activity and interaction on with his fans and artists that has the world intrigued.
With some of the most eccentric lyrics, beats and re-inventing the genre, Lil Nas X's popularity is on vertical climb. Combine that with his social media antics and interaction with fans, Lil Nas X could be ending the year with multiple awards and accolades.
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