Magazine 2021 Innovators Award, rapper and pop star Lil Nas X on his evolution in the music industry: “This is me, this is my life. By publicly embracing his queer identity, hopscotching musical genres seamlessly and playing social media like a game for keeps, Lil Nas X has surprisingly emerged as a generational talent, someone who continues to break ground.
The past year has been a total rebuke to those who thought “Old Town Road,” the kid-friendly pop culture juggernaut he released in December 2018 while crashing on his sister’s couch, would make him a one-hit wonder. The album is nearing a collective two billion streams on Spotify less than one month after its release. According to Spotify, he’s now the fifth-most-streamed artist in the world on its platform, with almost 65 million monthly listeners. He performed and won top awards at the show on September 12, then the next night posed on the Met Gala red carpet in three custom Versace looks, including a full set of armor and a sparkling gold bodysuit, and then released his debut album, Montero, at midnight on September 17. The VMAs were the start to one of the more exciting weeks of the 22-year-old artist’s life so far.