Backlash after Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" removed from Billboard Hot Country chart

xp tiktok is the musical.ly app, if you've ever seen that, rebranded/relaunched. its current niche is somewhere between the former musical.ly and vine apps -- short/amusing clips of teens dancing/lp syncing to songs, often looped

I’m not clear on how pointing out that it was more successful than the songs i pulled arbitrarily from those charts is relevant if we’re talking about the narrative that took hold as the song broke. My point of contention was that if that narrative had been about the tik tok memes instead of a narrative about billboard, it would be a much more divisive hit, of which there are many (no one is having these impassioned discussions about the massive success of polo g); certainly you could argue it’s much less likely the remix (which unquestionably enhanced its rise) would have been turned around as quickly; it was a major PR slam dunk. And I still maintain that if the broader perception had been that this hit was a result of annoying tiktok memes rather than country music crossover history, the mainstream awareness of this unquestionable hit song would have been interpreted entirely differently. No this does not mean that I’m saying it wouldn’t have been a hit, or even that it would have gone number one. I specially said it would have been received much differently! The massive Sueco song is a good example of this, if you’re looking for a better example of tiktok driven fame.

If you’re asking if I think the song would have been as big without the billboard meme I would say definitely not; but I never argued it wasn’t really a hit or it wasn’t doing well off tik tok streams, I’m talking about how it is received by today show hosts and elementary music school classes, which aren’t performing polo g’s “pop out”

Like this is a song fucking ken burns is weighing in on in pitchfork interviews, he has literally never been asked about a rap song before unless there’s something from the end of the jazz doc I’ve forgotten. That level of crossover success didn’t come solely bc there was a viral novelty song on tik tok, it came bc the big narrative about it involved country industry gatekeepers trying to draw lines around genre in a way that suggest racism

honestly...Ken Burns being asked about Old Town Road, that's some shit right there

okay that all makes sense to me and i would agree there. looking back upthread i definitely misinterpreted what you meant when you wrote "the popular response to this song would have been different imo" -- i thought you were actually arguing that the song was not on the course to being a big hit, lol, especially when subsequent responses continued to reference the charts and numbers and such. thank you for clarifying and sorry if i was a dick.

Tried to find Griel’s take (haven’t seen one) but Xgau weighs in on his website’s blog:

Q: Do you like "Old Town Road"? -- Alexander Robertson, Wilton, Connecticut

A: I like "Old Town Road" in the Billy Ray Cyrus remix. But I don't love it. As a song I think it tops Childish Gambino's "This Is America" but not Cardi B's "Bodak Yellow," two previous must-hear this-is-a-phenomenon singles I got on late because I'm so album-oriented in this phase of my life, but found none of the three as culturally or aesthetically compelling as I was supposed to. This may be because I'm 77 and may be because most current "memes," if that's what these are, are less intrinsically compelling than must-hears should be. More than, let us say, "Beat It" or "Hound Dog" (but maybe not the overrated "Heartbreak Hotel"), they are pure functions of an information system less universal than such information systems are credited with being. This is why so many "memes" would once just have been called "hypes." On the other hand, taking "Old Town Road" off the country chart strikes me as racist pure and simple, because country radio remains racist regardless of the Darius Ruckers and Kane Browns it makes room for. And of course, it's also sexist in an era when so many of the edgiest country singers are women: Miranda Lambert, Angaleena Presley, Becky Warren, Margo Price, Ashley Monroe, Mary Gauthier, even Kacey Musgraves, can I mention Lori McKenna, and I know I'm forgetting people.

Not gonna dunk on that take overall but find it amusing that he takes a different Elvis song down a peg seemingly out of (rightful) nervousness about the optics of his saying “but it’s no [Elvis song]” in the first place

There’s been a lot of preposterous shit written in this thread but nothing quite so ridiculous as a contention that the old town road yee haw juice memes were not insanely lame and uncool

the uncoolness was part of the point iirc. 'cool' is not cool anymore, granddad!

I love watching people wrestle with whether they should like this semi-novelty song and what it means about them

the struggle is real

When your favorite song comes on...wait for it!🤠 @LilNasX pic.twitter.com/Zdxd8QgdSt

— Aussies Doing Things (@aussiesdointhgs) June 28, 2019

No matter how you feel about the song, dog ... otm?

This was our clap-out song on the last day of school. If you hate it, hearing it in the context of 250 kids aged 5-14 singing along...might make you hate it even more. Or not.

apparently there is a version of "old town road" with lil nas x edited out

Is it called “34 Ghosts IV”

Rodeo and panini are in the top ten 🙄

idk man, I recently Shazamed Post Malone’s “Sunflower,” Dan & Shay’s “Tequila,” A Boogie Wit The Hoodie’s brap bap da doodap MJ song and the DJ Khaled song with SZA and ... I’m fine with ending contemporary popism and electing a novelty song creator our new mayor

The difference between panini and sunflower is barely perceptible

sunflower is a lot better than panini

correct

Hey panini don’t you be meany is a lyric that understands its true audience

People who are intimidated by sandwiches?

It’s a good concept in the sense that distinctive words make for good concepts ... ws always a fan of basswood lane’s MySpace era rap jam “ciabatta bread”

People who are intimidated by sandwiches?

It’s about some anime character, not a sandwich. but that doesn’t mean it won’t make me hungry

I don't buy sandwiches, I make my own #Publix

Lol anime ... of course

he has just come out on his twitter page

many figured he was not hetero given his past running a stan twitter/tweetdecker account but still cool

Yeah good for him

By true audience I meant 4 year olds but please continue to be perplexed by his success

his label was trying to cover up his past as a nicki minaj stan account because it obviously signaled that he's gay, i'm glad that for his sake that the farce can end

Seven years ago first week of July, Frank Ocean went public with his yearnings ftr

I still don't know who this is, but good for him!

wow, christgau truly is the dean wormer of music criticism

It’s about some anime character, not a sandwich. but that doesn’t mean it won’t make me hungry

― mott the hoopleheads (voodoo chili), Sunday, June 30, 2019 2:06 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ahh not anime its a character from the cartoon "Chowder" (?) which lasted from 2007-2010 and there's a character in it named Panini

https://pitchfork.com/news/lil-nas-x-releases-new-old-town-road-remix-with-young-thug-and-mason-ramsey-listen/

Dude just bought himself another week at Number 1

Mason Ramsey ethers Thugger on this

Kinda reminds me ZTT Records in the 80’s releasing multiple versions of a single with different mixes over the course of several months to goose its chart longevity
Not complaining, ofc, we got some good remixes - and chart placements - out of that practice

i honestly thought the bieber remix of “bad guy” would vault it to no. 1 but now....

billie’s remix is more akin to early 10s trends in chart goosing — missy on katy perry’s “last friday night,” kesha and nicki on “til the world ends” etc

that, plus someone probably figured "it worked for despacito"

young thug's voice sounds so good on this lol

to add to ppl's case studies about what normies irl think abt this song: apparently one of my cow*rkers (in her 50s) thought that it was a billy ray cyrus song that simply featured 'a rap guy'. when the original version played on the radio and ended w/o cyrus's vocals she thought the station must have decided to edit him out/fade the song out early

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/11/arts/music/blanco-brown-the-git-up-old-town-road.html

The country-rap song they did let on the country charts is dreadful.

I like it!

“The Git Up,” he’s said in interviews, is part of a sound he calls “trailertrap” — “country music with 808s, hi-hat snares, kick drums and beatboxing.”

i'm sure elementary school gym classes have been needing new material for a while

i assume it will be on top of billboard's country chart for ages, regardless of how much (little) country airplay it ends up scoring

i find it odd that the 'country-trap' label is being used for that tune tho, and apparently accepted/repeated. if that song is 'country-trap', then so is "body like a back road"

and "meant to be" etc etc

lil nas x is a commie, hope you're all pleased, I know I am

it’s ok to steal from rich people

— nope (@LilNasX) January 18, 2019