在他的首张全长专辑中，他仍在探索新的道路，他也知道自己的最大财富是那种富有弹性的个人魅力。在《Dead Right Now》中，他给予了自己的音乐事业一个“生存或死亡”剧情，讲述了父亲给他的“百万分之一可能性”的判断，这种场景似乎是为了他的奥斯卡获奖传记片量身定制，毫无疑问，这片子已经在路上了。和Jack Harlow合作的凯旋颂歌《Industry Baby》也给他的职业生涯添加了点黑马的氛围。他说“我真的火，谁都想告我分杯羹”，如果这句歌词来自其他年轻明星，都会显得像一句典型的无端名人抱怨，但放在他身上却完全诚实——因为撒旦鞋引发了和耐克高风险但荒谬的法庭对战，这甚至显得像是场后现代艺术的表演。
On his full-length debut, he keeps searching for new roads, knowing his greatest commodity is his own elastic charisma. On “Dead Right Now,” Lil Nas X gives his music-biz dreams a life-or-death drama, recounting how his dad once sat him down and gave him one-in-a-million odds, in a scene that seems tailor-made for the Oscar-winning biopic that’s surely coming his way soon enough. The triumphal “Industry Baby,” with Louisville, Kentucky, rapper Jack Harlow, gives Nas’ career travails a similar underdog vibe, noting “I blew up/Now everybody tryin’ to sue me.” Coming from any other young star, that kind of sentiment might feel likepro forma celebrity griping. Coming from Lil Nas X — whose demonic Nikes really did causea high-stakes court battleso absurd it might as well have been postmodern performance art — it’s just honest.
作为一个发迹于美国流行乐长期种族壁垒缝隙间的艺人，李纳叉并不看重流派分野的事实并不奇怪。从支撑不存在歌曲的弗拉明戈吉他到《Lost in the Citadel》中浮夸的80年代摇滚风，又到《Void》中的哀伤叹息。 朵佳猫在广受期待的《Scoop》中撒上了点点冷笑，而大姑妈埃尔顿约翰则在叉抱怨人们如何说教的歌曲《One of Me》中轻抚琴键（这也是在他们在Uber Eats广告的精彩发挥后的又一次岔辈华丽兄弟情的甜蜜时刻）。当唱片来到它最好玩又荒唐的时刻，他最为快乐。在《Dolla Sign Slime》中，他和梅根组成了一支快乐又自负的小队，戏弄宫廷，吹嘘金钱，在传统rap的宫室之外游乐。正如他的新伙伴大卫李罗斯所言：“谁在意你挣了多少，我们只想知道你花了多少。”冷静，叉叉。
Unsurprisingly for an artist who blew up by gliding between long-standing racial hierarchies in American pop, Lil Nas X doesn’t show a ton of interest in respecting genre boundaries — from the flamenco guitar that undergirds “Call Me by Your Name” to the Eighties-rock bombast of “Lost in the Citadel,” to emo laments like “Void。” Doja Cat sprinkles some sidelong sass all over the hyped up “Scoop,” and Elton John tickles the ivories as Nas complains about people telling him how to act on “One of Me” (a sweet moment of inter-generational glam brotherhood that keeps the momentum going after their solidUber Eatsad collab)。
He hasthe most fun when the record is at its most playful and absurd; on “Dolla Sign Slime,” a joyously cocky team up with Megan Thee Stallion, he enters to farts of court-jester brass, dropping new-money brags and camping out in the rap-royalty throne room。 It’s like hisnew buddyDavid Lee Roth once said: “Who cares about the money you’ve made? I wanna know how much money you’ve spent。” Stay frosty, Monty。
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李纳叉不是最迷人的歌词作者，也不是最有特色的歌者（如果还算亲切的话）。拥有高额预算并在像泰鸽, Take a Daytrip和侃爷这样的联合作者及制作人的帮助下，《Montero》并没有包含像《老城路》那样的音乐作品。这也是李纳叉自己的核心悖论。他的音乐，包括2019年推出的EP《7》都还未能和他自身同样伟大（也很少有事物能）。
Lil Nas X isn’t the most engaging lyricist, and he’s a pretty anonymous (if amiable) vocalist. Despite a big-ass budget and assists from co-writers and producers like Ryan Tedder, Take a Daytrip, and Kanye West,Monterodoesn’t contain any “Old Town Road”-scale musical coups. This has always been the paradox at the heart of the Lil Nas X project. His music — including7,the EP he put out in 2019 — doesn’t always rise to the occasion of being as great as he is. (Few things do.)
不过这也没什么，因为当他把注意力集中于那些更容易引起共鸣的地方，比如自己的故事和心路历程——他的希望、不安和成功之后，这张专辑会直击人心。在沉思的《Sun Goes Down》中，他感性地回顾了年少时被霸凌的经历，怀疑自己是否太黑，隐藏那些“同性恋的想法”。除此之外，好听的Outkast风格原声吉他加合成器歌曲《That's What I Want》弹出了展示他已能达到高度的希望音符。这是一首甜蜜而骄傲的，描述他想和其在一起的男孩的歌。他低吟道：“夜深人静之时，总会感觉不好，唯我一人，与梦相伴”，很难想象他会缺乏追求者，他为众人所爱。
That’s fine, though, because when he keeps the focus on the more relatable aspects of his own journey and story — his hopes, insecurities, and successes — the record can really hit home. On the reflective “Sun Goes Down,” he movingly looks back on getting bullied in his teenage years, wondering if his skin was too dark, and hiding his “gay thoughts.” Elsewhere, the playful Outkast-like acoustic guitar and synth bloops of “That’s What I Want” strike a hopeful note that shows how far he’s come. It’s a sweet, proud song that details the kind of boy he wants to settle down with: “It don’t feel right when it’s late at night and it’s just me and my dreams,” he croons. Hard to imagine he’ll be lacking for suitors. His love contains multitudes.
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