Lil Nas X’s “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” has won Video of the Year at the the MTV Video Music Awards. If you’re even the slightest bit surprised then you probably haven’t seen the clip. (You can do so right now by clicking play on the video above. We’ll wait.)
Hosted by Doja Cat, the 2021 MTV VMAs were held in New York’s Barclays Center on Sunday night, honouring the best music videos we watched on repeat while locked down this year. Olivia Rodrigo took home Best New Artist, as well as Song of the Year and Push Performance of the Year for “drivers licence,” while BTS predictably won Group of the Year and Best K-pop for “Butter.”
However the coveted VMA for Video of the Year went to “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” by Lil Nas X, beating out “Bad Habits” by Ed Sheeran, “Save Your Tears” by The Weeknd, “Kiss Me More” by Doja Cat ft. SZA, “WAP” by Cardi B ft. Megan Thee Stallion, and “POPSTAR” by DJ Khaled ft. Drake (the video for which starred Justin Bieber despite him not actually singing on the track).
“I want to say thank you to the Gay Agenda,” said Lil Nas X in his short and sweet acceptance speech. “Let’s go Gay Agenda!”
He later took to Twitter to further express his excitement.
“MONTERO” also won the VMAs for Best Direction and Best Cinematography, which also seems fair.
I think we all saw this win coming. The visual of Lil Nas X literally pole dancing to Hell and giving a lap dance to Satan had an immensely powerful impact on the cultural landscape — one that no other music video this year can honestly claim to match. The rapper has been a bold, bright, unapologetic figure in the music scene ever since he burst onto it with 2019’s “Old Town Road,” and 2021 only saw him grow to greater heights.
Lil Nas X also proved his talent for performance with a mesmerising live VMAs stage of both “MONTERO” and “Industry Baby,” accompanied by Jack Harlow. No matter how many times you’ve seen him, Lil Nas X always manages to be the highlight of any event he attends.
