Lil Nas X Deserves a Better Industry

The latest in pop-culture news, recaps, and reviews, plus close reads, profiles, interviews, and more from Vulture.com. [Brand Logo]( album review [Lil Nas X Deserves a Better Industry]( Buried under all the frustrating discourse is Montero, a short, sweet album about learning to love yourself and demanding respect. Photo: Columbia Records I spent a good amount of time in the last six months wondering why Lil Nas X pays any attention to haters and homophobes online. It’s a goofy question. I already know the answer. When you’re queer and comfortable in your skin, you are scrambling somebody’s circuits, someone who grew up believing “gay” meant “weak” or “bad,” who “has trouble accepting your lifestyle” because they’ve been socialized into believing you have chosen to reject a holy, natural order of cisgender, heterosexual love and procreation. Maybe you grew up this way, too, and adolescence was complicated by the terror of realizing you are the thing you were taught to avoid, and you’ve spent your entire life dismantling the logic that tells you you’re not okay, only to bump heads with people who haven’t had to or wanted to do this work. You go toe-to-toe with these people because they need to be challenged and you need to be affirmed, and because there’s a kid like you somewhere who deserves to know they can fight back. You give bigots smoke so they know that you know that theirs is an ideology of fear and lies and conformity and boredom. It bears repeating. [Read The Story »]( The Latest TV Recaps • [Survivor Season-Premiere:]( Come On In! • [The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills:]( Seals of Approval • [The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies:]( Whose Fault Is It Anyway? • [American Horror Story: Double Feature:]( These Are Winter Problems [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Stories We Think You’ll Like [J. Smith-Cameron Answers Every Question We Have About Harriet the Spy On impressing Rosie O’Donnell with her theater credits, hanging with Courtney B. Vance in Canada, and the enduring brilliance of the Harriet costumes.]( [Where are Indigenous Designers in the Met’s New Exhibit? Korina Emmerich is the only one included in ‘In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.’]( [The Handsome Tragedies of Y: The Last Man The FX on Hulu show poses spiky questions about gender, family, and human nature in the midst of trauma. Does it have the skill to answer them?]( [Paula Poundstone Wants You to Be Her Best Friend The stand-up talks about her crowd-work mastery on this week’s Good One.]( [Good Deal, Bad Strategy: Why the Paramount+ and Showtime Bundle Is a Mess Should they just be one service by now?]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Devour pop culture with us: [Subscribe to Vulture now for unlimited access.]( Vulture Recommends We consume it all so you don’t have to. Photo: Warner Bros. We’ve [ranked every Clint Eastwood–directed movie](, from newly released Cry Macho to Mystic River. [Read more from Vulture]( If you enjoyed reading Vulture’s daily newsletter, forward it to a friend. Or dive deeper into the Vulture universe with our other newsletters: • [1.5x Speed](: Podcast recommendations and listening notes from Nick Quah, sent every Wednesday. • [Buffering](: Joe Adalian reports on the streaming industry, sent every Thursday. • [The Housewives Institute Bulletin](: For dedicated students of the Reality TV Arts and Sciences, sent every other Friday. [logo]( [facebook logo]( [instagram logo]( [twitter logo]( [unsubscribe](param=daily) | [privacy notice]( | [update preferences]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Was this email forwarded to you? [Sign up now]( to get this newsletter in your inbox. [View this email in your browser.]( You received this email because you have a subscription to New York. Reach the right online audience with us For advertising information on e-mail newsletters please contact AdOps@nymag.com Vox Media, LLC 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, 11th Floor Washington, DC 20036 Copyright © 2021, All rights reserved