Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
Not many artists have the impact and audience to sustain an entire documentary on their rise to fame with only one studio album out. Add that to the list of improbable feats Lil Nas X has achieved in his four-year career. Premiering at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, the documentary “Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero” solidifies why the artist, born Montero Lamar Hill, deserves everything he’s achieved.
In March 2019, at just 19 years old, Lil Nas X officially released his TikTok megahit trap-country single, “Old Town Road,” through Columbia Records. A month later, just days before he turned 20, Lil Nas X got Billy Ray Cyrus to hop on the remix, which extended the single’s success to a record-breaking 19 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart — the longest in the chart’s 60-plus year history. That alone would’ve made the Georgia native notable. But he didn’t stop there. Just as his career soared to unprecedented heights, Lil Nas X risked an international homophobic backlash by coming out as gay. Still, the haters could not stop his rise.
The “Long Live Montero” documentary highlights not only the star’s 2022 debut tour from North America and Europe to Sydney, Australia but also why he decided to come out and how his authenticity has inspired young fans around the world and shifted his family relationships.
Co-directed by Oscar nominee Carlos López Estrada and Zac Manuel, “Long Live Montero” captures Lil Nas X’s most vulnerable moments while on tour as he struggles with imposter syndrome and with dressing and dancing in a way that embraces…
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