Music Video: Old Town Road CSP
Lil Nas X - Old Town Road CSP
Background and cultural contexts
Read this Vox feature and podcast transcript on Lil Nas X and Old Town Road. Make sure you read the whole thing - including the podcast transcript - then answer the following questions:
1) What is the big debate regarding Old Town Road and genre?
A number of factors have contributed to Lil Nas X’s popularity, particularly the debate over whether Old Town Road should be classified as country music. Earlier this year, Billboard removed “Old Town Road” from its country chart, which boosted the rapper’s profile to a wider audience while fueling a debate about what defines country music and who gets to decide.
2) What do you learn about the background of Lil Nas X and Old Town Road from the podcast transcript?
We learn that Lil Nas X “was living at home feeling very lonely, feeling like a lonely cowboy, and he decided to pair that feeling with this sort of twangy beat that he bought. So “Old Town Road” starts off very much as this deep-voiced ode to the simple life on the dirt road path with your horse. And then it breaks into what he calls “country trap.””
3) What is the Yeehaw agenda?
The Yeehaw agenda is a trend where people, especially Black artists and online communities, started embracing a modern, sometimes ironic cowboy/country aesthetic. Lil Nas X helped popularise it by promoting Old Town Road on TikTok, where it became the Yee Haw Challenge and went viral through dance videos and transformations.
4) How did the story become a debate about race in America?
The story became a debate about race when Old Town Road was removed from the country charts, with people questioning if it was because Lil Nas X is Black. This led to a wider discussion about how Black artists are often excluded from country music and who gets to define what counts as “country.”
He thinks that there is the essential question about who gets to be a gatekeeper, and the institutions like Billboard might seem uneasy by the fact that there are other people deciding whether or not something is or is not a certain genre. He was browsing in Spotify and their search section — and the category “Country” was next to the category “Focus” which he thinks was maybe even below the category “Podcasts.” These are not mutually exclusive and completely exhaustive categories; there is a lot of overlap. And I think that today people listen as much by mood as they do by genre, upending an entire way of thinking about the importance of these generic categories. “Pump-Up” and “Chill” are equally as important as country or hip hop and how people might approach going to listen to music. It is changing the way things chart, where they end up. And there is some uneasy cultural negotiation that needs to be done in order to decide who gets to claim what kind of music they’re making.
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Now read this Salon feature on Lil Nas X and LGBTQ+ identity. Answer the following questions:
1) How did Lil Nas X announce his sexuality on social media?
He came out through a series of tweets. In them, he encouraged fans to listen closely to his song “c7osure” hinting at its message about revealing one’s true self. He also used a rainbow emoji and posted artwork with rainbow imagery, along with the caption suggesting he thought it was already obvious.
2) Why does the article describe Old Town Road as 'genre-blurring'?
The article calls it genre-blurring because the song combines elements of hip hop and country music making it a hybrid genre. It brings together sounds, styles, and audiences from both genres rather than fitting into just one.
3) How has country music demonstrated the social change taking place in American culture and society?
Country music shows the social change happening in American culture by becoming more open and accepting, especially toward LGBTQ+ people. More country artists have come out and there is growing visibility in the industry, which wouldn’t have been as accepted in the past. This change reflects how society as a whole is changing, with more acceptance and inclusion, and country music is starting to have those cultural changes.
The Old Town Road video follows a simple narrative where Lil Nas X starts in a stereotypical Western setting and then gets transported into the modern day. This links to Todorov’s equilibrium Theory because the equilibrium (life in the Old West) is disrupted when he gets chased out of town, and the new equilibrium is when he adapts to the present. The narrative is quite loose and more focused on the journey and change he faces rather than a complicated storyline.
Technical codes are used to show the contrast between the past and present like binary opposition with old vs new. The camerawork includes tracking shots of the horses, which shows us the Old West era. When the setting changes to the modern city, the camera movement and pacing feel faster and includes pans of the neighbourhood, which matches the energy of the scene. The editing is quick and follows the beat of the music, keeping it engaging. The mise-en-scene like costume includes the cowboy outfits, hats, and horses clearly represent the Western genre, while the modern scenes use cars and streetwear to show a completely different setting and shows how much things have changed over the years.
The video has representations of race and ethnicity, challenging the stereotypical ones, especially in Westerns, which usually focus on white cowboys. The video having black artists like Lil Nas X in these roles, reclaims that image and shows that black people are part of that history too. This creates a more inclusive representation and reflects changes in society. The music video also has culture like hip-hop and their fashion included.
The music video featured cameos from comedians Chris Rock and Haha Davis, rappers Vince Staples and Rico Nasty, songwriter Jozzy, producer Youngkio, and DJ Diplo.
- Cultural Myth: Deeper ideologies that have been shaped through cultural coding through connotations over time.
- Mytheme: Small units of narrative in cultural products; such as theme, character and action, the
study of which can reveal the dominant ideas and values of culture.
Lil Nas X used social media really strategically to boost his popularity and the success of Old Town Road. Before releasing music, he ran a Twitter fan account where he posted memes and viral content, especially around Nicki Minaj, which helped him build a large following. This meant he already had an audience when he released the song. By using memes and online trends, he made the song spread quickly and go viral, showing how important social media is for promoting artists today. He also utilised search-engine optimisation (SEO) by asking user on Reddit was he should call the song. This process was keeping his content visible.
Old Town Road’s “country trap” lyrical and audio codes are linked to the video’s use of codes and conventions from the western genre. Country music has been synonymous with the mid-west of America, and it is where Lil Nas X grew-up. The video is a camp black western, complete with a hick hoe-down, car vs. horse showdowns and most importantly a stranger riding into town.
The exposition of the video starts in media res (in the middle of action) and shows Lil Nas X riding through rugged countryside of the outback being chased by the sheriff and his deputies.
The Wild West of the 1800s is transposed to Los Angeles to create a comic juxtaposition for the audience; from the desolate, unwelcoming outback to the suburban streets of Los Angeles where the inhabitants are filmed in slow motion astonished at the sight of this newcomer. The “dance-off” and “car-race” between Lil Nas X and the street people are represented in a friendly manner. The video ends with Lil Nas hugging a little white Bingo playing, line-dancing old lady, subverting the negative stereotype of the threatening black man
Masculinity in the video is shown through traditional cowboy imagery, which is usually linked to being tough, independent, and self-reliant. This reflects the stereotypical Western idea of masculinity, often associated with white figures like John Wayne. However, the video also challenges this by making it more playful and less serious, especially through Lil Nas X’s performance. Instead of fully following the macho, emotionless stereotype, it presents masculinity in a more modern and less rigid way.
The theories include Thomas Schatz, Judith Butler, David Gauntlett, Paul Gilroy, and Stuart Hall.
I think the most useful is Thomas Schatz because the video clearly moves from the Genre of Order, with conflict and threat in the Western setting, to the Genre of Integration, where Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus are accepted into a peaceful community. Judith Butler is also useful because the video shows gender as performative, especially through costumes like pink suits, showing that masculinity isn’t fixed.
The article suggests that digital media has a massive impact on traditional media like songs and music videos because it allows them to spread really quickly through memes and online trends. When Old Town Road came out, people on social media started remixing it and turning it into viral content, which helped boost its popularity. Even celebrities like Miley Cyrus reacted to it, showing how both fans and famous people can promote a song online. This suggests that audiences are now active participants, not just passive, as they help share and shape the success of media products through digital platforms.
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