Lil Nas X - Old Town Road

 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?

People disagree on weather it should be classed as country music or not 

2) What do you learn about the background of Lil Nas X and Old Town Road from the podcast transcript?

He is from Atlanta and started uploading music on soundcloud. 

3) What is the Yeehaw agenda?

The yee haw agenda. This woman, Bri Malandro, tweeted about how a lot of black artists are getting interested in sort of the country aesthetic. And the way that Lil Nas X factored into that is, while people were picking up on the good ol’ cowboy/cowgirl aesthetic, his song was circulating on Twitter and he made it available for free on TikTok

4) How did the story become a debate about race in America?

the country music chart is dominated by white artists and when lil nas x started climbing up the chart the song got removed from the chart because it was not country enough.

5) How does Charlie Harding sum up the whole thing in the final part of the podcast transcript?

"This is not old country music of a rural community. This is the internet generation."

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 posted a picture of him riding towards a building n rainbow lights saying he thought he made it obvious 

2) Why does the article describe Old Town Road as 'genre-blurring'? 

the song had elements of both hip hop and country and brough both fans together

3) How has country music demonstrated the social change taking place in American culture and society? 

There is growing acceptance for LGBTQ+ people and even some country artists coming out and some showing their support

Old Town Road textual analysis

Watch the video again and answer the following questions. Use your notes from our in-class analysis to help you:

1) How are narrative features used in the music video? Apply narrative theory here.

• Todorov - the equilibrium is when Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus are on their horses, the disequilibrium is when they are separated in different times and the new equilibrium is when they met up together again
• Propps character theory - Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus may be seen as the heroes or the hero's and the helper/donor and the different times as the villains 

2) What examples of genre conventions and intertextuality can you find in the video?

references old western movies

3) How are technical codes used to create meanings in the video? Analyse camerawork, editing and mise-en-scene and make specific reference to moments in the video.

the camerawork is very fast paced with a lot of cuts like a typical music video, it starts off slow to establish a story so that the music video has a narrative. The costumes resemble the costumes in a western movie and contrast the modern outfits worn by the other characters. The whole video is an example of bricolage as it contrasts the old with the new.

4) How are representations of race and ethnicity constructed in the video?

the black people in the modern time are seen in less wealthy areas, all of the elderly people playing bingo in the cowboy hats are white suggesting only white old people listen to country and only young black people listen to hip hop

5) What other representations can you find in the video? You may wish to comment on gender, sexuality or America/American culture. 

the different age groups getting along and how masculinity is represented through the cowboys

Old Town Road Media Factsheet

Finally, read Media Factsheet #262 - Old Town Road. You'll need to log in to Google using your Greenford Google account to access this. Read the factsheet and answer the following questions: 

1) Who are the celebrities that appear in cameos in the video? 

Chris Rock, Billy Ray Cyrus, Diplo and Rico Nasty

2) Choose three of the key terms defined on the first page of the factsheet and write the definitions here. Focus on terms you are unfamiliar with.

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.

Cultural Myth - Deeper ideologies that have been shaped through cultural coding through connotations over time.

Archetypal - A representation that is very typical of a person, place or thing.

3) How did Lil Nas X use social media to boost his own popularity and the success of the video?

He had a Nicki Minaj fan account and asked fans to choose the name of his song

4) Look at the video analysis on page 3. What conventions of the western can be found in the video? 

The costumes, the horses, the saloon, the sandy desert setting and the bank robbery

5) How does the video begin? 

After they had just robbed a bank

6) What does the factsheet suggest regarding the modern-day part of the video? 

It contrasts the old western theme and creates juxtaposition

7) How can the video be read as a reinforcement of capitalism and the American dream? 

Everybody is fascinated by the horse and fast cars

8) How does the factsheet suggest the video creates a hyperreality? 

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 as well as suggesting that outsiders should not be feared. This culminates in a message which constructs a hyperreality of inclusivity and community above fear and violence.

9) How is masculinity represented in the video? 

This representation often takes a romanticised an ideal of masculinity that is WASP (White Anglo Saxon Protestant). They are depicted as self-reliant, macho and tough, often self-sacrificing and shun romantic relationships with women.

10) Look at the final page. What theories are suggested for this CSP and which do you think are the most useful? 

Stuart Hall’s concept of transcoding stereotypes could be useful ad Lil Nas X subverts the aggressive black male stereotype, especially in regard to the violent, misogynistic, homophobic rap star.

David Gauntlett’s identity theory would argue that more varied and nuanced representations of masculinity offer audiences more identity models to follow.

A/A* extension tasks

Read this W magazine feature on how the social media world (including Miley Cyrus) reacted to the video. What does this suggest about how digital media is impacting on traditional media products like songs and music videos?  

YouTube allowed fans to react to it and post their own opinions and TikTok allowed the song to get bigger by turning it into a dance trend