Lil Nas X and Ariana Grande are kicking off their new musical eras on the same day
Lil Nas X will release "J Christ" on Friday, January 12, the same day as Ariana Grande's "yes, and?"
The stage is set for Friday, January 12 to be a huge kick-off for the year in pop music. Ariana Grande has already announced her return with “yes, and?”, her first solo release since the 2020 album Positions. Now, Lil Nas X is joining the fray with “J Christ,” the lead single off of his follow-up to 2021’s Montero. In typical fashion, Nas courts controversy by once again provoking Christians everywhere, using an image of himself crucified on a cross as the single’s artwork.
Like Doja Cat, Nas is part of a new cohort of artists who are also digital natives and use online outrage bait to his advantage. “J Christ” seems to be a direct response to the backlash that surrounded “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” which prominently featured the singer giving a lap dance to the devil. The imagery (in conjunction with Nas’s queer identity) launched conspiracy theories that he was a Satanist or a member of the Illuminati, something Nas played into during that album cycle.
This time around, he’s flipped the script, playfully teasing his “Christian era” for months. His TikToks leading up to the release of “J Christ” have leaned into the language of online Christian conspiracy theories, teasing that “the industry tried to make me satanic” and that he was going to “expose y’all favorite artists” so he needs to “watch [his] back.” In one clip, he showed himself “explaining to fans that the media stopped supporting me after i started promoting god to the masses. And that the industry is wicked which is why i was blackballed from releasing music for the last year and a half. But i’m finally independent now and will be dropping a new song next week.”