The summer of Lil Nas X is right on schedule: the rapper recently announced the release of his new track, “Sun Goes Down,” set to premiere May 21. Coming just ahead of his debut on this weekend’s SNL, Lil Nas had already promised a live performance of “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” and a new single on the show.
The chart-topper revealed the deep personal inspiration behind his new song and video over the weekend. “Sun Goes Down” will find the 22-year-old visiting a younger version of himself “who’s struggling inside, hating himself, [and] doesn’t want to live anymore,” he wrote. “I try my best to uplift him.”
Preview imagery from the video finds Lil Nas X in his preferred position, suspended among the elements, transcendent and unbothered. If “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” is an orgy of fire and earth, “Sun Goes Down” seems to promise a vivid marriage of water and air. Put the coast guard on high alert, because we’re already floating out to sea just looking at these stills.
His remarks about the video are also a continuation of the rapper’s inspiring public displays of vulnerability and unabashed queerness. Given his rapid rise to fame and ubiquity in pop culture over the past year, it can be easy to overlook just how much ground he continues to break with every step, both in his music and public statements.
Extending a compassionate hand back to one’s younger self, who’s struggling with self-hate over their sexuality? That’s high-level queer enlightenment that some folks spend years in therapy trying to achieve. It’s hard to overstate how much it could mean to queer fans to have a role model like Lil Nas X, who’s having these conversations with himself in chart-topping singles and socal media posts with hundreds of thousands of supportive comments.
The rapper also addressed his younger self with the release of “Montero (Call Me By Your Name).” “I know we promised to never come out publicly, I know we promised to never be ‘that’ type of gay person, I know we promised todie with the secret,” he wrote in a message on Twitter. “But this will open the door for many other queer people to simply exist.”
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