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Lil Nas X is looking back on his decision to publicly come out, saying that his intent and timing were “authentic.”
Speaking to CBS Sunday Morning recently, the Grammy winner explained why he chose to come out at the height of his “Old Town Road” fame.
“That would’ve been the most authentic time,” said Lil Nas X. “It’s like, I’m not doing it for attention. I’m already like the number-one artist in the world right now.”
The rapper said “there was definitely some fear” before making his announcement in 2019, adding, “There’s always gonna be fear when you’re doing something that’s literally life-changing. But you just have to do it, you know.”
He also acknowledged that, while he’s not the first gay rapper in the game, he is among the first to openly embrace his sexuality.
“I feel like I’m definitely much more ‘out there’ with it,” said Lil Nas X. “It’s always been, ‘Okay, if you’re gay, this needs to be sanitized. Let’s not include anything sexual.’ It’s like, ‘Be gay without being gay. We don’t wanna know what happens behind closed doors, or we don’t want you to express that.”
Lil Nas X is glad to have ignored that pressure and now hopes to be an example for other performers, saying, “I want every other artist to feel” they can freely express who they are.
When asked to summarize his 2021 in just one word, Lil Nas X chose “transformation,” because “I feel like I’ve bloomed into an entirely new version of myself.”
He added his five-time Grammy nominated debut album, Montero, allowed him to “reinvent myself” by giving him an outlet to “express myself more” through his music.
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