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IT’S CURRENTLY THE number one song in the US but it has also become somewhat of a battle ground between music genres in 2019 and who gets to define them.
Lil Nas X’s Old Town Road sits atop the Billboard 100 charts, reaching the summit earlier this week and also charting in Ireland where it’s #1 on Spotify’s Irish chart.
The song is a semi-ironic take on country music themes and sounds, except the main performer is Lil Nas X, a 29-year-old singer from Atlanta who initially found fame on the internet.
Old Town Road features the sound of a plucked banjo sampled from Nine Inch Nails and is almost entirely about country themes (“I’m gonna take my horse, To the old town road, I’m gonna ride ’till I can’t no more).
It also features deep trap drums throughout, a bass sound typical of rap in southern US states.
The song went viral when it started being used as the music to countless videos on the video sharing app Tik Tok. It was as part a meme where users dress up like cowboys and cowgirls.
Lil Nas X first released it in December 2018 with record label Columbia describing it as a “country-inspired rap track”.
The original video for the song was made up entirely of clips from Wild West-themed video game Red Dead Redemption 2, edited by Lil Nas X himself.
The song began climbing the charts and last month debuted at #19 on Billboard’s Hot Country chart. That was until Billboard decided to remove the song for essentially not being country enough.
“Upon further review, it was determined that Old Town Road by Lil Nas X does not currently merit inclusion on Billboard’s country charts,” Billboard said when the song was removed from the chart.
When determining genres, a few factors are examined, but first and foremost is musical composition. While Old Town Road incorporates references to country and cowboy imagery, it does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music to chart in its current version.
This decision prompted criticism with many arguing that music can be across different genres. It was pointed out, for example, that pop songs regularly feature on country charts.
Others said the decision was even more problematic and that Lil Nas X’s race was a factor in deciding whether the song was “country” or not.
“Billboard’s decision to take the song off of the country chart had absolutely nothing to do with the race of the artist,” the statement said.
Predictably, the controversy has done even more to boost the song and it’s currently on track to reach 80 million streams this week. Beating the previous streaming record set by Drake’s God’s Plan.
Billy Ray Cyrus has even come in to support the track’s country credentials and a remixed version of the song featuring both Lil Nas X and Cyrus has been released.
Regardless of the origins of the song, the New York Times has called it “a sociocultural rallying point” and “one of the most emblematic songs of the year”.
For Lil Nas X, who dropped out of college to pursue a music career, he says the song’s success is simply down to hard work and marketing.
nope / Twitter
nope / Twitter / Twitter
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Aerosmith & Run DMC were at this years ago.
Cultural appropriation!
What controversy? It’s a rap song and a pretty dreadful one at that.
Bit of a banger anyway though, Billy Rae was the one who made it viral..
Despite being a sewing together of cliches, I like it. Great fun … and probably would have done better in Eurovision than My Lovely Horse.
Makes a nice change from the usual generic Ariana Grande type rubbish
Ooooch….my achy breaky ears
I wanna go viral!
check out my remix of Jefferson Airplane – White Rabbit.
https://youtu.be/SeZ5jubomRg
I’ve also remixed Kings of Leon and Pink Floyd (not officially ;) and subscribe, only got 7 so far and I hear that ain’t great.
@Julian King: Tbh it sounds like the song I’d want to hear if I needed convincing to jump off that bridge. Sorry pal
@Julian King: a BIG UP! for pink not pushed on jefferson! even, the original demands a high quantity of THC
Yeah race probably does play a factor in the decision – hardly a shock or necessarily wrong. Having different chart types is the definition of labelling and categorising based on background and culture.
I’m sure there are Irish trad charts and music is more likely to get in that if an Irish vs non Irish person releases somewhat similar sounding tracks. You always have to move a little deeper into a genre’s sound if an outsider. A black rapper is more of an outsider in the country and western world than Billy Bumpkin Pie and the like.
@thephantomshit: I’m black and I play trad. Widely accepted by people I play music with. No issues. I see the argument here of why it’s not true country. Being honest I had actually heard it loads on those tiktok ads on YouTube and thought it catchy but it’s not proper country. Then again music is changing so your point on charts and genres themselves is as blurred as it is in life. You’re still a no. 1 to me, in your genre.
Done to death. Please offer up something that will actually be remembered
First I’ve heard of this, but then again I don’t listen to shite
Forget the racism question for a moment… what about the horrendous equating of riding a horse with relations with women … where is the feminist movement on these young women’s videos ?
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