Lil Nas X, Billy Ray Cyrus, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and the PHENOMENON of "Old Town Road": a Genre Blur and Possible Industry Trend

It's really neat having teenagers, They spot trends and then they're over it. My 13 year old daughter showed me a new bop that her and her friend made a dance to. It was country rap and I loved it. On April 27th, 2019 I downloaded the Lil Nas X song "Old Town Road" to use for my project on video games since my sons told me the song was inspired by "Red Dead Redemption 2." Another teenager acknowledgement since nobody else is talking about it. I found one article online that mentioned it's bizarre how nobody has made the connection to the song and the "Red Dead Redemption 2" similarities. According to this source, even the announcement from Colombia of the signing of Lil Nas X was released in "Red Dead Redemption 2" font. Lil Nas doesn't plan on making making more country trap songs, unless he gets the urge.

I am pretty sheltered from media. I do not watch TV. Or listen to music much these days. I guess I've been in a bubble because now, approaching September, "Old Town Road" is a Billy Ray Cyrus song. Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus were able to basically piggy back off each other all the way to the bank! I think that is so wonderful; God bless them, both. The song just got knocked off the top spot after holding steady a record 19 weeks.

The story behind it is good. With Wikipedia and Variety as my sources, I can give dates and events behind this phenomenon. Lil Nas X came from nowhere. He put this song- which sampled Nine Inch Nails- on the internet in 2018 and he made cowboy memes to promote it. He purchased a sample of a Nine Inch Nails song from 2008 called "34 Ghost IV". Eventually, the kids' app Tik Tok picked up the song and helped Lil Nas X get on the charts. Lil Nas X listed the jam as a country song on Sound Cloud and other social media sites. The cross genre song eventually went viral online.

Due to his great success online, Columbia signed Lil Nas X in March of 2019. Lil Nas X reached out to Billy Ray Cyrus to do a duo remix of the song with him. Cyrus agreed. They credited Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross from Nine Inch Nails as producers.

The original version was released for a week before the remix with Cyrus was added to the mix. Then things skyrocketed for the two. They got kicked off country Billboard charts for not showing enough evidence of the genre. However, they shot to number 1 on The Hot 100 Billboard chart. They stayed there until August of 2019, a record setting 19 weeks on top. Cyrus gets credit for 18 weeks on top since the song went number one for a week before the remix was released.

The remix with Lil Nas X, Cyrus, Reznor, and Ross is nominated for a CMA for "Musical Event of the Year," and has already won a VMA from MTV. The reason I am so interested is because it was my favorite song, the original. When I tried to YouTube the original song recently I could 't find it, just the remix with Cyrus that I had never heard of. Luckily I have a download of the original "Old Town Road," but I wanted to see the video. See how bad I am? Well, the kids have long since been over it. They hate it when I start singing that song and make fun of me if it comes on.

The fact of the matter is, this is a phenomenon that could be easily reverse engineered. When I first found out Cyrus was in on a remix, I assumed it was his deal from the start and he was boosting the career of an unknown rapper. I also assumed Cyrus was savvy enough to incorporate a wildly popular video game into the marketing mix. I was a amazed about how genius he was setting this whole thing up. After I did some research online, I found out that Cyrus isn't the marketing genius I thought. Lil Nas X did this on his own and asked Cyrus to star in a remix with him. Lil Nas X made the whole song, promoted it by himself through cowboy memes until it finally hit the charts. Getting signed by Columbia allowed him to access Cyrus for the bangin' remix duo.

Now I'm certain that this should be a new thing in music. The opposite of what happened with "Old Town Road." What I mean is that established or old school music stars should plan to identify with an independent artist or song, use their connections to hook up with that indie artist to do a collaboration, and incorporate mainstream ideas into production or promotion, such as hit video games or viral brands that are the "thing" of the millennial second. Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" is a phenomenon that doesn't have to stop there. The model of the opposite scheme, the one where famous artists are reaching out to indie artists and boosting both of their careers, could really be a profound trend in the music business. I really hope the industry starts to utilize this model to create togetherness, cross genre work, and some kind of originality that rivals "Old Town Road." Even if the genre isn't a melting pot, indie artists and mega music stars can really help each other out if they feel so inclined. It's time for some music magic. Lil Nas X brought the heat with his banger "Old Town Road." I'm so impressed. What is everyone else gonna do? Did we learn anything? I hope so.