Lil Nas X dabbled into country music during the early days of his career with the song "Old Town Road," but the track was later removed from the Hot Country Songs chart. More recently, he expressed his true feelings over Beyoncé and Shaboozey taking over the genre following the release of Cowboy Carter.
The "Industry Baby" hitmaker spoke with the BBC in an interview. He said he was happy for the two artists' success with their recent releases but also frustrated that it didn't happen to him.
"I wish this would have happened for me. I wasn't even able to experience this," Lil Nas X said.
In an early report by Rolling Stone, the singer's "Old Town Road" was removed from Billboard's country charts. Although they didn't publicly announce the sudden change at the time, they issued a statement to the outlet, saying, "Upon further review, it was determined that 'Old Town Road' by Lil Nas X does not currently merit inclusion on Billboard's country charts.
They further explained that a few factors are examined whenever they determine genres, especially their musical composition.
Although Billboard admitted that the song incorporated references to country music and cowboy visuals, the track didn't "embrace enough elements" of the genre.
In the recent interview, Lil Nas X revealed that he had tried dabbling in country sounds again, but he didn't feel it was right.
"I want to feel connected to it and not force it," he added.
In a previous interview with Time about Billboard's decision to remove his song from the country charts, he explained that his song was "country trap" and should be in both country and trap music genres.
He also noted that the idea of removing the song from the chart was racially charged.
"I believe whenever you're trying something new, it's always going to get some kind of bad reception," he added.
Beyoncé amassed massive success following the release of Cowboy Carter, becoming the first woman to top the Hot Country Songs chart with her song "Texas Hold 'Em." Her collaborator Shaboozey hit No. 1 10 weeks later with "A Bar Song (Tipsy)."
In addition, Cowboy Carter became Spotify's most-streamed album in a single day in 2024, but it was later broken by Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department. Today, Beyoncé's country album surpassed one billion streams on the platform.
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