Lil Nas X enters his 'Christian era'

On the heels of his ‘Satan’ era, has the singer found religion?

He started his career as a teenage Black country singer. Then Lil Nas X shifted gears and was a gay Pop singer with a thing for Satan.

On November 29th, he seems to have begun his latest ‘era’. He posted a video to his socials that went viral (obviously). He wears a woman’s wig and skirt, and a T-shirt that says “If God doesn’t exist then who’s laughing at us?” as a soulful song plays appealing for divine guidance.

Is Lil Nas X entering his ‘Christian era’? Will Christians allow that?

Lil Nas X in 2021 (publicity photo)

It would be a hard sell?

Memories were vivid of Lil Nas X, in 2021, ‘power bottoming’ for Satan, the Prince of Darkness in Hell. It was hard to forget, even if you wanted to.

At the time, I took it all in, and suggested that since Lil Nas X seemed to be Christian, he really ought to power bottom for Jesus.

Now he is making an appeal to God — and Christians.

Overtly the song is a prayer.

He might appear to sing to God. But the lyrics are unusual. It begins: “father stretch my hands”

This may point less to the Creator of the Universe and more to Kanye West, whose 2016 song “Father Stretch My Hands, Pt. 1” introduced his own ‘Christian era’.

Since Kanye West’s ‘Christian era’ turned out to be a flop ending in divorce and ranting about Hitler, is Lil Nas X reminding the Christian world of the essential theater of public “conversions”?

Or is he asking to be seen as a true Christian?

If so, then the problem will be his homosexuality. But the song he sings might be read to touch on that subject. He says he’s “lonely.” So romance hasn’t worked out.

Is he holding himself out as a Prodigal Son? His “plans” went nowhere, he sings. He finds himself full of “worry,” “pity” and “envy.”

But the song isn’t directed to a father. Rather, he calls on “angels” — spirit beings a Christian wouldn’t ordinarily address. Curious.

He does want to engage the gay subject.

He was humorous about it, suggesting for his “Christian era” he’d wanted to not be gay anymore, but “sadly” couldn’t change. A joke?

He puts up a spirited defense of gay Christians. He adds:

“making christian music does not mean i can’t suck dick no more. the two are not mutually exclusive. i am allowed to get on my knees for multiple reasons.”

Amen to that. He posted a comic video on the problem of returning to ‘church’.

Christians weren’t so amused.

Lil Nas X drew attention to a response to his video by Tyrese, accusing him of “playing with God.” He replies:

“this really crazy cuz all i did was post a song about asking god for hope when you feel hopeless and yall acting like I posted a video of me burning a church down and peeing on a nativity scene”

Lil Nas X spent awhile interacting with critics. Is it a problem that he’s gay? Many pastors are, he suggests.

“it’s really insane how yall pretend some of our pastors aren’t getting piped down before the sunday service. yall do not know jesus personally stop trying to gatekeep him”

At Christian critique, he issued a humorous public service announcement:

“watch out everybody it’s the christianity correctional officer”

Lil Nas X in “Christian era” video (2023)

He grew up Christian.

Lil Nas X grew up in Georgia with an addict mother, Tamikia Hill, leaving him being raised with a grandmother. His legal name is Montero Hill. He has his mother’s name. Then he went to live with his father, Robert Stafford, a publicly Christian man.

There was regular distress when, for example, Lil Nas X dyed his hair. It’s just not what Christian boys do.

His father was a gospel singer who wrote music, and seems to have viewed himself as having been frustrated artistically by a difficult life. He later credits his son’s success, in part, with having had a father figure, as he did not. There’s an edge of competition between them. Stafford speaks of his son’s career as a “baton” being passed on.

“Well I’m a better singer than him,” Lil Nas X jokes.

His father adds: “He’s always wanted to finish first in everything. He always wanted to be the best.”

Is religion in contention between them?

Who gets to be the better ‘Christian’ as the ultimate prize? Is that the story?

Robert Stafford and Montero Hill c.2015

Robert Stafford had a Christian problem when his son came out as gay.

In an interview he’s asked about it, and replies:

“As a Christian, you have to understand that you’re not God. I don’t have a Heaven or Hell to put anyone in. I support my son wholeheartedly. I just pray to God. I didn’t like when he first came out. I was trying to talk him out of it, because I know this cruel world, how they treat the gay community, especially the so-called Christian community… But I think people are people. You live your life on your terms, and you let God be the judge.”

But Robert Stafford had a dilemma. His son had become one of the most famously infamous homosexuals in the world. His own career in Christianity would be affected.

He decided to go with supporting his son.

It had seemed a nice story of a father and son supporting each other. Stafford mentions getting regular money from his son, and it might be that Lil Nas X had funded the one album his father released, in 2018, One Man, One Mic, One God.

His father’s album flopped. He didn’t even have a song about his famous son, which would’ve guaranteed it some appeal. He also didn’t sing of accepting gay children. He wasn’t embracing that storyline.

Stafford just wanted to make a nice gospel album with Pop features. It was boring and his plans went nowhere. If the two were in competition then the album was proof that his son was the better musician.

Is his wearing a dress and wig a religious problem?

Lil Nas X bats the idea away, making some good points:

“jesus walked around with 30 inches of hair in a loose long sleeve sundress baby i promise he ok with me having a buss down and a skirt on”

He suggests that he isn’t a Satanist or a Christian, just as he hadn’t been a cowboy when he sang country music. These are all just masks, he explains:

“y’all see everything i do as a gimmick. when in reality im just an artist expressing myself in different ways. whether im a cowboy, gay, satanic, or now christian y’all find a problem! y’all don’t police nobody else art like mine. y’all hate me because im fun cute and petite”

He sees the core Christian complaint with him as not presenting as a “man” in a traditional mode. He’s not serious about being male.

Is Christianity, then, even a religion?

If the religion is simply a prompt to follow traditional codes for gender, then how ‘religious’ is that, really? The story seems to be that one about a queer artist arriving to play with a religion’s self-divinizing fantasies.

I wonder: Is that also the story of Jesus? 🔶