But the rise of Lil Nas X represents a larger moment in our culture. It’s weird, beguiling and inarguably fun–a tonic for these times.Ī hit song doesn’t need to stand for anything, of course. (Sample lyric: “Ridin’ on a horse, ha/ You can whip your Porsche.”) Yet it was written solely by Lil Nas X using a beat he purchased online for $30.
Not coincidentally, it’s a perfect meme–catchy, quick, self-referential and subversive. As Lil Nas himself put it on Twitter: “It’s crazy how any baby born after march has not lived in a world where old town road wasn’t number 1.”Īll of this has made “Old Town Road” the defining sound of the year, a slurry, genre-busting interpolation of two quintessential American musical genres: country and hip-hop. 1 song in history, having occupied the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for 19 weeks, blocking new singles from Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran, and dethroning the previous record holders, Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men’s 1995 hit “One Sweet Day” and Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber’s 2017 single “Despacito.” It’s been streamed more than a billion times on Spotify alone. Four months later, “ Old Town Road” has defied all expectations.
