He shared “Call Me By Your Name” in July, and dropped a portion of “Industry Baby” in October, both earning millions of plays and hundreds of thousands of likes. Let’s look back at the long road to Montero.Īfter beginning work on the album in April 2020 with Take a Daytrip, Nas stirred up tremendous interest online by previewing snippets of some of his new songs. No matter what is thrown Lil Nas X’s way, he’s always in on the joke, and he dictates the cultural conversation in a way most celebrities could never. His debut album Montero is out today, and it’s a triumphant moment for Nas as an artist who has proven not only that he’s no one-hit wonder, but also that he’s a true mastermind of the modern art of attention. But it’s hard to make a case that either of the long-time superstars presided over a more masterful rollout than the 22-year-old Lil Nas X. Kanye had his troika of gaudy stadium shows, including a literal homecoming in Chicago. We live in an age of baroque album rollouts.
