In late 2018, Lil Nas X quietly released “Old Town Road” which quickly became a viral sensation thanks to it’s popularity on the app Tik Tok. When the song rapidly began growing in metrics, Nas X was signed to Columbia Records and found him self charting on Billboard’s all genre Hot 100 as well as their country charts. The song was nearing the top of the country’s charts, when Billboard suddenly removed it from the country charts and justified it’s decision by saying ‘Road’ “didn’t contain enough elements of today’s country music.” The song has since gone #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, (thanks in part to the Billy Ray remix that we’ll get to momentarily and would’ve also been #1 on the Hot Country Songs chart.
After hearing about the controversy surrounding Lil Nas X and his debut single, Cyrus decided to reach out to Lil Nas X’s camp after having his own experience with being rejected from the good graces of country when he released a trap remix to “Achy Breaky Heart” 22 years ago. On the remix, Cyrus kicks things off by performing the song’s refrain. Nas X joins in on the fun, although his verses and lyrics go largely unchanged from the original. Cyrus once again takes over for the 3rd verse of the song and provides the song’s most lyrically driven lines and sounding as young and vibrant as he did at the peak of his career.
All in all, the song is a huge win for Nas and Cyrus (pictured above), who scored their first Billboard #1 single together. But what I still can’t figure out is why the country music genre, which is a ding genre of music wouldn’t want a much needed #1 all genre smash hit to their recent credits. With or without the support however, the single has been predicted to be one of the most dominant Hot 100 songs in chart history as it currently has more chart points than any song in the top 10.
The Sounds of Music 