Lil Nas X has slid into the chat room with new music video ‘Call Me By Your Name’

Lil Nas X released a new, striking video for his self-reflective “Call Me By Your Name” earlier last week, and it has drawn tons of controversy.

The music video creates many allusions to the Bible with hints of Greek mythology — not that many have noticed because the Biblical imagery is all anyone is talking about.

In the video, Lil Nas X lives in his version of the Garden of Eden, then is sliding down a stripper pole into hell. And audiences are up in storms. The risky imagery has some viewers calling the artist a satanist, crazy and a bad example for the children, to which many have responded with what seemed like a fair question: Why are these parents letting their children have free range of the internet?

Lil Nas X struck fame after the release of “Old Town Road,” which was loved by younger audiences even though the song wasn’t meant for them. The lyrics “Riding on a tractor/Lean all in my bladder/Cheated on my baby/You can go and ask her,” clearly have sexual innuendos and aren’t child-friendly lyrics. So why are people surprised by the raunchiness of “Call Me By Your Name?”

For context: “Old Town Road” blew up before Lil Nas X made his widely celebrated venture out of the closet. “Call Me By Your Name,” a clear callback to the 2017 queer film by Luca Guadagnino of the same name, is a video where the whole world sees Lil Nas X express himself freely, sexually and emotionally, as expressed through the lyrics: “I’m not fazed, only here to sin/If Eve ain’t in your garden, you know that you can/Call me when you want, call me when you need.”

But the icing on the cake, besides Lil Nas X trolling people on Twitter, was the infamous “Satan Shoes.” Lil Nas X collaborated with designer, MSCHF (the same artist who created the Jesus Nike Air Max’s), to create customized Nike Air Max 97s that could be worn by the devil himself. The shoes, which allegedly contain one drop of human blood, sold out in one minute, according to Entertainment News. Take with that what you will, but I would just call it clever marketing. 

A marketing strategy or not, the video is impressive. The video has a story, it provokes emotion, Lil Nas X does his own stunts and he even co-directed it with Tanu Muino. Muino has worked with Cardi B, Katy Perry and YUNGBLUD, just to name a few. 

You can’t deny that it isn’t a good video, even if it doesn’t fit your taste. In the short time that it has been up, it has sparked many conversations. And after all, that is what good art does: it starts conversations.