Firstly, I wasn't actually sure whether to review Lil Nas due to the last EP I reviewed of his '7 EP' not particularly being that Hip Hop. I thought it was going to be because of 'Old Town Road', but then it turned into be a more poppy with a couple of Hip Hop elements, e.g. some rapping. But this album 'Montero' certainly fulfilled the eligibility criteria needed for me to allow it to grace my rap-circuited ears.
Lil Nas has one of the smoothest singing voices about right now. He's not crazy don't get me wrong, but his vocals definitely sounded thick and velvety and full, and the production value of the album really was exquisite, which laid down a solid foundation for him to sing/spit his thing. The opening title track 'MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)' and 'DEAD RIGHT NOW' are probably two of the best examples of this. Also, when will this trend end of having the track names fully capitalised or completely lowercase?
Remember when I just said the production value of this album was exquisite? Well it is mostly, but for INDUSTRY BABY ft Jack Harlow. This single sounded really cheap to me, and all the flush vocals of Lil Nas were replaced by an annoying tinny alternative. Listen to Lil Nas' vocals on this track, especially the opening section, they sound terrible in my opinion. Then Jack Harlow, in fairness who did add something to this song, came through with one of the most obnoxious verses in a minute. His rhyming was actually dope with smart, well executed rhyme schemes, but the content was tiring after a few listens... And that clapping sound effect after the "hand print on her ass cheek" line was so grating.
Post 'INDUSTRY BABY', we have 'THAT'S WHAT I WANT'. The guitar riff through that track was so catchy and I love that Lil Nas keeps his music colourful by using various different instruments. Lil Nas certainly displays his fluorescent and flamboyant personality through his music. Great addition to 'THAT'S WHAT I WANT' to bring the song down a tone and an acapella for a little bridge near the end.
The skit after that felt really 'fake woke' but whatever it was only 24 seconds.
Following that, I really wasn't a fan of the repetitive, unimaginative chorus on 'SCOOT' featuring Doja Cat.
On the track 'ONE OF ME', I am not entirely sure Elton John deserved his listed feature credit lol, he plays piano and has a solo near the end which was really good, but I just very much doubt, had that been a piano player who wasn't famous, and certainly not as famous as Elton John, they would have been credited on the tracklist. Maybe that's just me being cynical?
The track 'LOST IN THE CITADEL' showed Lil Nas showing off some good vocal range and again bringing a different style style and aesthetic with the meaner sounding guitars on the chorus and the 'rocky' drums too. His little melodies at like 1:40 were so nice as well and catchy on impact.
In terms of lyrical moments, Megan The Stallion's Slim Shady/Stan bar was clever and worth pointing out - "all these hoes imitate me, you could fuck a Stan of the real Slim Shady", on the track 'DOLLA SIGN SLIME'. Not entirely sure what the track name means like.
Is Lil Nas X all just fun and games? No - and I like that. On this album, there are moments where he displays his vulnerable side and we get to see a side of Lil Nas we haven't often previously seen. On 'SUN GOES DOWN' Lil Nas does this. There is great content on this track that will help him really relate to his target audience of children, and perhaps kids who feel different. This sort of music will help him last the test of time and make an impact on someone's life. And I don't doubt for someone out there this track will make a difference.
'LIFE AFTER SALEM' was a bit of a power ballad, again showing Lil Nas' versatility. I really liked the whistles at the end of the track, a bit of an ode to Old Town Road - the track which put Lil Nas on the lips of every single person in the God damn universe.
The final track 'AM I DREAMING' with Miley Cyrus I thought was a great team-up. The track is a soft acoustic number completely subverting my expectations. I expected something loud and viral, as really, on paper, these artists are the perfect collaborators. They have terrorized middle America with their 'grown up' content and liberating videos. But here they are on some wholesome shit.
To conclude, I'm still not entirely sure who this music is for. Children most definitely. But do children listen to full albums like they used to? I'm not quite sure. The streaming numbers of the tracks kind of reflect that, with the big YouTube hitters pulling a lot of the weight. Don't get me wrong, the streaming numbers of all the tracks are epic, but for someone with 62m monthly Spotify listeners, you'd expect his album cuts to have a few more. Basically, his streams are from his singles that always do numbers online. His back catalogue isn't as popular because his target audience are kids who aren't really on discography listening like that, catch my drift.
I think on this record Lil Nas did lose some of that weird, individual spark that 7 EP had, like on 'C7osure (You Like)', where was that stuff, that song is amazing. However, Lil Nas did still show good versatility and it was good to see him attempt some more 'serious' music and take it to a deeper level that a listener can connect with more.
7/10
Star Track - SUN GOES DOWN
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