Lil Nas X embraced the provocative with Montero (Call Me By Your Name). Controversy was the point. So of course he’ll be performing it for the Saturday Night Live series finale.
The rapper posted on Instagram, Saturday, that he’ll be performing both Montero and Sun Goes Down tonight when SNL does its final episode of season 46. Anya Taylor-Joy is hosting. She’s the star of Netflix’s wildly popular Queen’s Gambit.
Lil Nas X, in Saturday’s post, also said he’d be singing Sun Goes Down. He released the video this past week.
Saturday Night Live has gone for an eclectic mix of hosts and performers this season. The show wants people talking. And Lil Nas X is perfect if your desire is for sheer reaction.
Plus, Montero (Call Me By Your Name) is the most popular song in the world. It’s in its fifth week of topping the Billboard Global 200 chart. And it’s also in week three of being No. 1 on the Billboard chart that registers song activity outside the United States. The song has a literal meaning. Montero is Lil Nas X’s real name.
So, What’s So Controversial About the Lil Nas X Video?
So, what’s so controversial? It’s mainly the music video. Lil Nas weaved bondage and religious symbols throughout it. In part of the video, he was a slave. Then he did a pole dance down to hell. And he capped it off twerking in Satan’s lap. Lil Nas X did kill the devil and he donned his horns to celebrate his victory. Fans and critics lost their minds when the song was released in March.
And since the song’s release, the video has been viewed 215 million times on YouTube. Saturday Night Live, like the rapper, loves to be provocative. SNL already included Lil Nas as a character in the sketch comedy. Chris Redd played the rapper. And, Redd said of the Montero controversy: “I put my pants on like everyone else, one assless chap at a time.”
Sun Goes Down, the follow-up to Montero, is a lot tamer. In it, he goes back four years to when he was in high school. He’s there to comfort the teenage version of himself. His father makes a cameo in the video.
In 2019, Lil Nas X had the most popular song of the year in Old Town Road. The song spent 19 weeks atop the Billboard charts. It became the longest-running No. 1 since the chart started in 1958.
