Lil Nas X: Old Town Road

Background and historical contexts


Read this Vox feature and podcast transcript on Lil Nas X and Old Town Road. Make sure you read the whole thing - including the podcast transcript - then answer the following questions: 

1) What is the big debate regarding Old Town Road and genre?

The debate of whether "Old Town Road" should be classified as a country song or not. In 2019, it was taken off the Billboard country chart and was moved to the Hot Rap Songs chart. Billboard representatives stated that "Whilst it  incorporates references to country and cowboy imagery, it does not embrace enough elements in todays country music to chart in its current vision." Billboard received backlash as to whether they were doing this due to Lil Nas X's race.

2) What do you learn about the background of Lil Nas X and Old Town Road from the podcast transcript?

20 year old rapper from Atlanta who joined soundcloud. He bought a beat which had country-surrounding instruments to it and said how he was feeling very lonely like a lonely cowboy, which made the foundations of "Old Town Road".

3) What is the Yeehaw agenda?

Bri Malandro tweeted how many black artists were interested in the country aesthetic and at the same time "Old Town Road" was circulating twitter and was made available for free on TikTok where people made a challenge on who could dance better to "Old Town Road".

4) How did the story become a debate about race in America?

Country music is a very white dominated music industry and so the removal of "Old Town Road" from the country music charts could be seen as preventing the black artist from invading the country music industry. Shows how black people are marginalised from society in USA.

5) How does Charlie Harding sum up the whole thing in the final part of the podcast transcript?

How there are 3 components: musical, commercial and cultural and how "Old Town Road" fits these categories. Also how R&B and Hip-Hop was a black artist industry and also called "race music" and Country was "hillbilly" music, music for another race and how they were segregated and how other music genres have been blended in with country music. 


Now read this Salon feature on Lil Nas X and LGBTQ+ identity. Answer the following questions:

1) How did Lil Nas X announce his sexuality on social media?

He released a post on twitter stating how some people will know and how some people will disagree but to listen to his song "C7osure" closely.

2) Why does the article describe Old Town Road as 'genre-blurring'?

 As his hit song "harnessed" both hip-hop fans and country music and that his sexuality touches both genres. 

3) How has country music demonstrated the social change taking place in American culture and society? 

  • Ty Herndon reissued one of his songs, changing the pronouns in the song from "her" to "him" - became the first mainstream country singer to come out in 2014.
  • Many other country singers have come out.
  • Carrie Underwood  expresses her support for marriage equality and was "pro-gay everything". Willie Nelson also supported the same view.
  • This was done to appeal to a younger audience.  

Old Town Road textual analysis

Watch the video again and answer the following questions. Use your notes from our in-class analysis to help you:

1) How is the narrative features used in the music video? Apply narrative theory here.

  • Todorov - Starts of in a disequilibrium - chase scene: "not to welcoming to outsiders".
  • Props - Lil Nas X is presented as the hero but can also be seen as a damsel in distress (ambiguous), Billy Ray Cyrus is the donor - "don't worry, you're with me now" reflects social contexts of song + country chart controversy.
  • Barthes - gun SFX  - danger - action code, time travel - enigma: How? Why?, car vs horse (sparks) race = both action and enigma.
  • Levi-strauss - Car vs horse race, outsider vs townsfolk - Lil Nas X challenging country music, old vs new time period, race: black vs white but is broken down by the end of the video - cultural conviviality (postcolonialism).

2) What examples of genre conventions and intertextuality can you find in the video?

  • Western film genre - mise-en-scene - costume, setting, props - sound: whip SFX, charcter intro, font/ typography
  • Car vs horse, Billy Ray Cyrus - Neal: Repetition and difference - masculinity and pink costume.
  • Intertextuality - wester, Blazing Saddler (western comedy), celebrities cameos - Chris Rock, Billy Ray Cyrus, Back To The Future - Time Travel, race - postmodernism, TikTok - phone, dancing on 2019 opening, Marlboro Man - masculinity, knowing reference as Billy Ray Cyrus is in a pink suite - postmodernism.

3) How are technical codes used to create meanings in the video? Analyse camerawork, editing and mise-en-scene and make specific reference to moments in the video.

  • Camera shots + movements in opening sequence when Lil Nas X and Cyrus are hiding out creates a combination of comedy and narrative (action code).
  • Mise-en-scene - setting in modern day - black neighborhood BUT white piquet fence  and actors (fixing car and spraying lawn) seems to suggest the American Dream
  • Editing - Lil Nas X and TikTok dance 
4) How are representations of race and ethnicity constructed in the video?

At the start, in the western there is a representation of White vs Black people as the white landowner shoots at Lil Nas X (black character), but at the end it shows a much peaceful representation of interaction between black and white people: Cyrus being his partner, hugging the white lady at the end (cultural conviviality - postcolonialism).

5) What other representations can you find in the video? You may wish to comment on gender, sexuality or America/American culture. 

Masculinity is played around with: reference to Marlboro man which would connote a very hypermasculine representation but Cyrus wears a pink suit, a very feminine colour.

A/A* extension tasks

Read this W magazine feature on how the social media world (including Miley Cyrus) reacted to the video. What does this suggest about how digital media is impacting on traditional media products like songs and music videos?  

People, especially celebrities, on Twitter create a spark about media products e.g. music videos and songs, who create a large fanbase to listen to view these products too, creating a large network.

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