Lil Nas X – “Old Town Road” Video
Lil Nas X’s improbable, inexorable rise to the top of the charts and country-rap stardom continues to be one of the feel-good stories of the year. “Old Town Road,” a supremely goofy song with a Nine Inch Nails sample and a Billy Ray Cyrus remix, blew up organically thanks to some TikTok memes and a catchy-as-hell chorus. Taylor Swift and Shawn Mendes, two artists with the weight of the real pop music machine behind them, couldn’t unseat it from #1. It looks like Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran won’t be able to either.
And “Old Town Road” did all of this without even having an actual music video. Until now, all it had was a “visualizer” that set the song to footage from the great Western video game Red Dead Redemption 2. But that changes today with the arrival of the “Official Movie” of “Old Town Road,” a music video directed by Calmatic for the Billy Ray Cyrus remix of the song. Along with Lil Nas X and Cyrus, who star as Old West cowboys on the run who end up in modern times, the clip features appearances from stars like Chris Rock, Haha Davis, Rico Nasty, Diplo, Jozzy, Young Kio, and Vince Staples. Watch it below.