More than anything about Lil Nas X’s latest foray into “creating controversy” simply by being himself in the video for “Industry Baby,” it’s most interesting to note just how much of a “Telephone” vibe he’s exuding as he dances and careens his way through prison. Granted, Lady Gaga only wishes she could be a bona fide gay man to execute that now illustrious shower dance scene Lil Nas X has henceforward seared into all of our brains. Though, to be fair, she does bring attention to her “(gay) penis envy” when one of the guards remarks after stripping Gaga down in her cell, “I told ya she didn’t have a dick.” The other replies, “Too bad.”
In the exercise yard (also a requisite scene in Lil Nas X’s version of prison), Gaga is looked upon like a tantalizing snack before she allows one of the more butch women to kiss her—in fact, the aggressor seems to be the person Gaga modeled her occasional male alter ego, Jo Calderone, after. In Gaga’s case, of course, she appears to be “lez” or bi for the sake of “getting along” while in the slammer (not just nicknamed that because of the sound a jail cell door makes). Perhaps thinking, “Why not?,” “Homoeroticism is so chic,” “When in prison, er, Rome…” and all that la-di-da sort of bullshit.
For Lil Nas X, the dick potential in prison is far realer than whatever Lady G is pretending to lust after in the form of snatch. But what both prison-centric videos have in common is that each star of the narrative is ultimately trying to break out (with Gaga doing so more tamely) despite how fun they make it look on the inside (an element that, in turn, could receive additional criticism for Lil Nas X in particular). In fact, one could argue that Lil Nas X throwing in the prison break finale was half-hearted at best. For he seems far more interested in showing off the titillating, sexually charged world of life behind bars (Elvis, too, knew something about dancing to the jailhouse rock—though he himself was one of those “Don’t drop the soap” types…or so he doth protested too much).
Opening with a judge (Lil Nas X as an old man) declaring, “I sentence you to five years in Montero State Prison,” Lil Nas looks more than slightly concerned. A title card then flashes, “Three months later.” Yes, three months later, and Lil Nas X presently doesn’t seem too upset about committing his crime (which was likely scandalizing conservatives with his “Montero [Call Me By Your Name]” video, but really, it’s about those Satan shoes ruffling Nike’s feathers). For prison is exactly his kind of place, what with Lil Nas gleefully reminding us, “I don’t fuck bitches, I’m queer, hah.” All to the sweat-drenched rhythm of backing music produced by Take A Daytrip and Kanye West (himself given flak by the far right for not being a “good Christian” in choosing to “promote” and “indulge” Lil Nas X like this).
In the “prelude video” for “Industry Baby” that X used to tease the impending “real deal,” a title card opens the scene with: Nike vs. Lil Nas X, Supreme Court, July 19, 2021. In it, Lil Nas X plays not only old man Judge Thomas, but also both lawyers and one of the jurors. It’s all very Eddie Murphy-inspired (as opposed to Tyler Perry, even though Madea does get name-checked in the song).
As for the predictable backlash to the “salaciousness” of Lil Nas X dancing gleefully in the buff while enjoying his communal shower in step with the other nude men dancing around him, another criticism levied was how featured collaborator Jack Harlow was “masculinized” while Lil Nas X was “feminized” to convey his “version” of a Black man that would be “safer” for mass consumption (newsflash: it appears no iteration of a Black man is deemed “safe” except the straight males who dress in drag like, again, Tyler Perry). A version that felt like a form of “emasculation” to make his “fey” sexual prowess somehow more “palatable” (even though it still isn’t to many). In response to the so-called “insult” about being too feminine, Lil Nas X replied, “The truth is there is no attack [on Black men here]. You view femininity as weakness. You don’t like gay Black men because you are afraid of Black men, as a whole, being viewed as weak. You cling on to your masculinity because without it you have nothing else going for yourself.”
The conservative agenda persisted by accusations that Lil Nas X instead continues to push the “gay agenda,” to which he riposted, “All jokes aside, the idea of a gay agenda doesn’t make sense. If someone influences you to suck cock, you probably already wanted to suck cock.” Oscar Wilde could have found a more aphoristic way to say that, but it’s effective nonetheless.
Directed by Christian Breslauer (who recently brought us Doja Cat’s “Streets” and a number of videos for Bebe Rexha’s much-underrated Better Mistakes), he might be more David Fincher than Jonas Åkerlund (who directed “Telephone”)—both beloved music video directors of Madonna—but he still gets the intent across thanks to Lil Nas X coming up with the “story.”
The addition of Jack Harlow almost taints the entire project, but perhaps Lil Nas X wanted some kind of “straight presence” in the video to hand him the Book of Montero (containing his escape method: a pickaxe). Plus, Harlow is not only from a similar bumfuck town in the South (Shelbyville/Louisville, Kentucky to Lil Nas’ Lithia Springs, Georgia), but also supposed to be aligned with experiencing the same kind of haterade directed at X for rising to the top “too soon” (Bella Poarch is another “too sooner” accused of making some sort of Faustian pact for the same reasons of wanting to experience “overnight fame,” namely after her success on TikTok followed by a record deal and the release of “Build-a-Bitch”—or maybe she just twerked on the devil as well to get what she wanted). Additionally, Harlow is in the same age range at Lil Nas, compounding the jealousy people feel over their ascent. But Harlow reveals his feelings about pretty much anyone over twenty-five with the ageist line, “I don’t clear up rumors, where’s y’all sense of humor?/I’m done makin’ jokes ‘cause they got old like baby boomers.”
Things get especially literal for Harlow when he sees fit to recreate the scene that corresponds with the line, “I sent her back to her boyfriend with my hand print on her ass cheek.” The “her” in this instance being the female security guard giving him a conjugal visit. As for Lil Nas X’s interactions with any such sentry, he finds escaping fairly easy as the male security guard paid to watch the monitors is distracted by wanking to the image of Lil Nas writhing on top of Satan. It’s a “twist of irony” that mirrors Megan Thee Stallion’s recent nod in “Thot Shit” to would-be congressman James P. Bradley “accidentally” stumbling upon “WAP,” and decrying, “Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion are what happens when children are raised without God and without a strong father figure.” One imagines the same has been said about Montero Lamar Hill amongst conservative circles.
As Lil Nas X, Montero has mastered the art of using controversy to his advantage in a way not really seen since Madonna (à la the Pepsi commercial), who has a black belt in the field—which is why she was sure to joke “Did it first” (with Britney and Xtina at the ’03 VMAs) about Lil Nas X’s homo kiss coda during his performance at the BET Awards, but then of course everyone took it as an opportunity to ream her. However, in broaching this notion of how Lil Nas has “grafted” elements of certain major female pop acts, it’s fair to say that he has more than fully embraced his gayness by partaking of the time-honored tradition gay men have of doing “send-ups” of women a.k.a. ripping off certain tropes of their “persona.” With drag queens going the extra mile via their so-called “homage” to “being femme.” Lil Nas X, prior to this “Telephone” reboot called “Industry Baby,” had heavily “borrowed” from FKA Twigs’ “Cellophane” visuals for “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” and now, clearly, he’s done the same with Gaga—whether “intentional” or not. But we ought not feel bad for her as she steals from everyone in a manner somehow more pretentious than Madonna’s method/art curation influence on mass culture.
The main point is that Lil Nas X essentially does what Jeremy Atherton Lin in Gay Bar describes (while on the dance floor at a “gay bar”) as follows: “Over-identifying with the diva vocals of spurned women is no longer the sole prerogative of the gay men. Looking around us as I danced to ABBA and the Spice Girls, apparently the ladies were over-identifying with the ladies, too. Gay appropriation coming full-circle—a mindfuck. The loot we pillaged had been plundered.” In short, women are “permitted” to take back their own “identity trappings” in the wake of gay men so freely using them…while still having plenty left over to share with someone like Lil Nas X to reinterpret. And, to that end, there’s no doubt he’ll be seeing plenty of women singing along and doing the choreo for “Industry Baby” soon enough (more likely on TikTok than a real dance floor).
