Lil Nas X returns with series of buzz singles and Barbie-inspired music videos

Lil Nas X has returned to our airwaves this week, pummelling us with a series of consecutive single drops in the lead up to, well, another single drop on Friday.

This unusual release strategy marks the rapper’s second attempt to get a sophomore album campaign off the ground after last year’s comeback single ‘J Christ’ was met with a lukewarm reception.

Since Sunday 9 March, the ‘Montero’ rapper has released the singles ‘Dreamboy’, ‘Big Dummy’ and ‘Swish’. Each single has been accompanied by a Barbie-inspired artwork which sees the rapper trapped inside a pink box like a Ken Doll, and its own music video.

A fourth single entitled ‘Hotbox’ is due for release this Friday 14 March. It is understood that all of these songs are lifted from the ‘Old Town Road’ singer’s second studio album, reportedly titled Dreamboy.

On ‘Dreamboy’, Lil Nas seems to seek to own his flop era, with lyrics like: “Fell off for a minute, now I’m back on / I just do what I want, I don’t care what they like / Say it with me, n**ga, ‘B**ch, I’m back like J Christ.” Vocally, it sounds like the rapper is channelling the energy of André 3000 on some of OutKast’s more pop-leaning efforts.

‘Big Dummy’ finds the rapper employing his signature braggadocio to wonderful effect, whilst on ‘Swish’ he takes things down a notch into Drake-style emo-rap.

It is not yet known when the Dreamboy album might be released, or if previous singles like ‘J Christ’, ‘need dat boy’ or ‘LIGHT AGAIN!’ will still feature on the project.

The artist’s 2024 collaboration with Camila Cabello was named one of the Top 10 Best LGBTQ+ Songs of the year by Attitude. We wrote at the time that his hypersexual, homoerotic lyrics and “big pop girl energy” left us “struck by the thought of what a singular figure he is in the pop mainstream right now.”