In a new interview, Lil Nas X has opened up about how he struggled mentally due to the pandemic and the added pressure of online criticism.
The COVID pandemic last year brought all of our lives to a complete stop. While most of us common people took it one sourdough bread and Tiktok at a time, behemoths like Lil Nas X also felt the brunt of the pandemic.
In a new interview with Variety, Lil Nas X opened up about how staying in because of the pandemic, coupled with the intense online criticism he faced, made him unsure and overly critical of himself and his work.
“I think I spent all of the pandemic making music and crying — no in-betweens,” he told Variety. “For the first month or so, I did not leave my house, and once I did, I was super overly critical of everything I was making. I was letting everything online get to me and feeling like things were over for me.”
Nas, who is gearing up to release his debut album Montero later this year, said that spending time with himself during the pandemic helped him accept himself, especially in terms of how his sexuality was perceived.
“I believe the pandemic helped me get out of the idea of trying to please everybody, and the idea of ‘He’s a cool gay person; he’s an acceptable gay person.’ I used to see things like that as a compliment, but it’s not.” he said.
“It just means you’re a people pleaser, and they never become legends. I wanted to be even more authentic in my music and let people into my life. I’m much more confident now — in my music, myself, my sexuality, the things that I believe that I stand for.” he continued.
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Albeit indirectly, Nas also weighed in on the recent controversy with DaBaby, where the latter was criticized for making homophobic comments at a show in Miami.
While he admitted that homophobia within rap is rampant, he declined to say more for ‘his own safety than anything else’, especially when he himself has been at the receiving end of hate comments.
“Especially after [‘Montero’]. There was literally someone who chased my car a few days after that video came out, yelling, ‘Fuck you!’ or something. And that’s when I actually started getting security.” he recalled an incident.
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Check out ‘Industry Baby’ by Lil Nas X:
