By: Lara Agpoon

SAN JOSE – Six days ago famous singer, Lil Nas X, took a different turn on promoting music. Lil Nas X surprised everyone with an at home pregnancy photo shoot showing the world his “baby bump.”

On Sept. 2, Lil Nas X released a photo of him posing and showing his visible “baby bump” with the caption “I can’t believe I’m finally announcing this. My little bundle of joy “MONTERO” is due Sept, 17, 2021.” The caption is referring to his debut album titled “Montero.” I asked my fellow classmate, Ava Veloria, about how she felt about this style of promoting music.  Veloria responded with, “I think it’s a pretty strange way to promote your music, but it definitely made me and many others curious about why he was promoting his music when he was “being pregnant” which raised a lot of questions and promoted his music pretty well.” Other people have replied to the question saying, “is it bad that he was pretending to be pregnant when he was obviously a man?” and “it’s not that deep.” 

Lil Nas X posing with his baby bump by the pool. Photo taken by: Lara Agpoon

Not only is Lil Nas X using his pregnancy photos as an advantage to get more views and listeners to his album, he’s using it so he can donate the money he makes to various organizations. The album includes fifteen track names along with links to non profit organizations that focus on addressing the problem of HIV/AIDS in the Southern United States. For example, the “Bros in Convo ” that provides sexual health and wellness education that protects men of color and “What’s in the Mirror” that advocates Black men in the LGBTQ community that are living with HIV.  

People have often viewed Lil Nas X’s work to be taken as a “joke” because of the way he produces his music. But after viewing his tweets on Twitter, I have realized that his work is something more than just something to laugh at. The day he announced that  “Montero” is coming soon Lil Nas X said, ”creating this album has been therapy for me. I’ve learned to let go of trying to control people’s perception of who I am, what I can do and where I will be. I’ve realized the only opinion of me that really matters is my own.” This is no surprise whatsoever. Lil Nas X has been flooded with hate because of the past work he’s done causing him to be viewed as a “bad person” so working on something he loves for his fans is a step in a different direction.

Lil Nas X has taken inspiration from an art piece called “Genesis II” by the artist John Stephens for his album art but of course, Lil Nas X also decided to add something lighthearted so he took inspiration from “Spongebob.” 

The anticipated album is set to release on Sept. 17, 2021.