Grammys flashback: Lil Nas X rode ‘Old Town Road’ all the way to the winner’s circle
Lil Nas X has become one of the leading pop stars of his generation, especially for his contributions to LGBTQ+ and Black music in the 21st century. His rise to fame started with “Old Town Road,” which quickly became a massive hit and set the record for the most weeks at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100. Such success often comes with awards recognition, so it’s not a surprise that the song was nominated for three Grammys, taking home two of those. Let’s take a look back at Nas’s journey to the Grammy stage.
While “Old Town Road” was a hit pretty much from the get-go — particularly its remix featuring Billy Ray Cyrus — a lot of hits get snubbed by the Grammys, so awards weren’t guaranteed. It also probably didn’t help that he was likely expected to be a one-hit wonder. Perceptions started to change when Lil Nas X made it publicly known that he’s a gay man. This meant that a Black gay man had the longest-running number-one song in America, and it earned Nas a lot of goodwill. Being an openly queer man in hip-hop, on top of making a country-adjacent song, meant that a lot of people in the industry were paying attention to Nas’s groundbreaking achievements. Nas also scored a second big hit with “Panini,” ending the one-hit wonder speculation.
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When nominations came around, Lil Nas X overperformed, earning six bids that made him the most nominated male artist of the year. Not only did “Old Town Road” get into Record of the Year, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, and Best Music Video, Nas’s EP “7” got into Album of the Year unexpectedly, and “Panini” was nominated for Best Melodic Rap Performance. Nas was additionally nominated for Best New Artist. Surely if he was able to get a surprise Album of the Year nomination as well as get nominated in two genre fields, the Grammys dug him enough for him to win. For Pop Duo/Group Performance, he was nominated alongside massive hits: Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello’s “Se?orita,” Post Malone and Swae Lee’s “Sunflower,” Ariana Grande and Social House’s “Boyfriend,” and Jonas Brothers‘ “Sucker.” Nas and Cyrus were predicted to win, not only due to their song being the most popular, but also because a lot of voters likely wanted to reward Nas for such an amazing breakthrough year and for his achievements for both the Black and queer communities.
Nas won, and made pop field history. He became the second queer man to win the category, after A Great Big World’s Chad King, and the first openly queer Black man to win in the pop field. Nas is also one of the few queer rappers to be Grammy-nominated, opening the door for queer rappers going forward. And Nas continued to be a big Grammy player; his latest album, “Montero,” got five nominations, including across the board in the general field, making him one of very few openly queer male performers with multiple Album of the Year nominations. That list includes Elton John and Van Cliburn. Nas is also the first queer Black man to get multiple Album of the Year noms.
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