{"id":21775,"date":"2021-05-05T15:47:01","date_gmt":"2021-05-05T15:47:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?post_type=articles&#038;p=21775"},"modified":"2021-05-05T17:10:05","modified_gmt":"2021-05-05T17:10:05","slug":"lil-nas-x-pride-entertainment-weekly","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/lil-nas-x-pride-entertainment-weekly\/","title":{"rendered":"Lil Nas X&#8217;s Authenticity Is Source Of Pride For The Artist"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_21915\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21915\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-21915\" src=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1202216440.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"689\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-21915\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo by Rachel Luna\/FilmMagic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Draped in mint green fur with similarly hued high-waisted trousers, Lil Nas X is posed on the cover of <\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Entertainment Weekly\u2019s<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> June 2021 Pride Issue. In the annual issue, which also features covers featuring <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/pose-premiere-red-carpet\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Pose\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">star Mj Rodriguez, multi-hyphenate <a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/master-of-none-lena-waithe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lena Waithe<\/a> and\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">SNL<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&#8216;s Bowen Yang, the\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Old Town Road<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0star\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/music\/lil-nas-x-montero-pride-cover-story\/\"class=\"editor-rtfLink\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">speaks<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0on his rise to fame from <a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/doja-cat-streets-music-video\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TikTok<\/a> and how his propensity to make headlines is his reminder to show up authentically.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&quot;I&#39;m thankful. But it also feels good to prove people wrong.&quot; At 22 years old, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LilNasX?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\">@LilNasX<\/a> is already a pro at breaking barriers \u2014 one song (and several clapbacks) at a time. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/nQn2X15CY9\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/t.co\/nQn2X15CY9<\/a> Story by Ira Madison III <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/eUk0YdZCkp\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/eUk0YdZCkp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Entertainment Weekly (@EW) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/EW\/status\/1389611130625183747?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\">May 4, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Reminiscing on the start of his career, the 20-year-old says, &#8220;I was only getting like 1,000 plays a song [on Soundcloud], but I knew for a fact something huge was coming. And it happened. It didn&#8217;t even take a year of making music, and then\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">boom<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.&#8221; And the &#8216;<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">boom&#8217; <\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">he means is his <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">explosive breakout single, &#8220;Old Town Road&#8221; (yeah, casual). Once it gained traction on TikTok in 2019, it would quickly become the longest-charting No. 1 song in Billboard Hot 100 history and even <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pitchfork.com\/news\/lil-nas-xs-old-town-road-breaks-streaming-record-set-by-drake\/\"class=\"editor-rtfLink\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">surpass streaming records set by Drake<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. The country-pop smash hit gained a feature from Billy Ray Cyrus on the remix, which earned two Grammys the following year for the beloved rendition.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">In the same year of Nas\u2019 grand entrance into the industry, the singer took the daring leap to openly disclose his sexuality and open himself up to the industry\u2019s homophobia. &#8220;Once you show the world more of yourself, they can relate more,&#8221; he says. Eager to join the ranks of those who refuse to appease the status quo, he continues, &#8220;Looking back on history, the biggest icons, the biggest artists, are the ones who aren&#8217;t trying to always make everybody happy and who were doing themselves. I hope to do that at all times.&#8221; For Nas, this means that he isn\u2019t shying away from controversy anytime soon if it has anything to do with the art he creates for his own fulfillment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Most recently, the release <a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/lil-nas-x-call-me-by-your-name-video\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cMontero (Call Me By Your Name)\u201d<\/a> was decried by conservatives and Christians alike as blasphemy for its lyrics that explicitly discuss queer sex and the accompanying music video that features the singer seducing the devil with a lap dance. But once again, Lil Nas X\u2019s ability to audaciously present himself to the world prevails as the song, which lends its title to his upcoming album, topped the Billboard Hot 100. And although Nas has a penchant for successful hits and quick-witted clapbacks to any and all opposition, self-assuredness wasn\u2019t always his strong suit. When he was younger, his sexuality and his Blackness caused an internal strife that he is learning to forgive himself for. &#8220;I feel like it&#8217;s very important, especially in this age, to forgive yourself for the past,&#8221; he says, pointing to how the Internet is a permanent document of our ever-changing lives. &#8220;At the end of the day, you are the main person that has to depend on you before anybody else. You have to love and nourish yourself.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29094,"featured_media":21906,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[23,38,16],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v18.5 (Yoast SEO v20.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lil Nas X&#039;s Authenticity Is Source Of Pride For The Artist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lil Nas X is posed on the cover of \u2018Entertainment Weekly\u2019s\u2019 June 2021 Pride Issue. 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