Lil Nas X just gave birth… to himself? Montero is Lil Nas X’s birth name which is also the name of his most recent album release. Lil Nas’s album, “Montero,” was released on September 15, 2021 and already received over 2 billion combined streams on Youtube and Spotify by September 16. The album contains 15 songs including collaborations with other artists like Jack Harlow, Elton John, Miley Cyrus, Doja Cat, and more.
Pre-release:
The volume of reactions and hype around his new songs were due to the way he promoted it. With over 24 million followers on TikTok, Lil Nas X used his to give sneak peeks of his songs. On September 2nd, he posted an announcement that he’s “due” on September 17, calling his album, “Baby Montero.” With daily updates on his “baby,” Nas used a snippet of his song, “That’s what I want” to get people hooked on it before it was out. His entire promotion strategy was based around this idea of giving birth, so he even held a baby shower two days before the release showing gifts from all of the people he collaborated with on the album. He was dedicated enough to his marketing metaphor that he had a baby bump in all of his videos and even had a maternity photoshoot.
Post-release:
Once the album was released, he even went so far as releasing a video called Lil Nas X gives birth where he literally gives birth to his album while including other pop culture references. On the day of the release, Lil Nas X posted sweepstakes with Cashapp on Instagram and Twitter for people who commented on their top 3 songs on Montero. He really enjoys connecting with his fans by reposting their memes, TikToks, and more which further the hype of his album. Whenever one of his songs or albums is released, his entire TikTok feed is his fans’ videos.
On his YouTube channel, you can find the entire album with short cinematic clips for each song. The comments on his videos say that he expresses his feelings through music passionately and that the album is a true masterpiece.
Summary of strategies:
Lil Nas X’s marketing strategies are all people can talk about. Non-traditional marketing strategies are what he’s best at. He caught people’s attention when he announced his “big news” of having a baby. Who won’t stop scrolling when they see a man with a baby bump on their feed? His “pregnancy” got people curious about who he is and about the album. The anticipation leading from his announcement to the release was a lot; there were tons of comments exhibiting excitement for its release. One of his campaign strategies for the release was innovative billboards that said things like “Do you hate Lil Nas X? You may be entitled to financial compensation!” According to The Cut, the billboards were inspired by old mesothelioma TV ads. They also included a QR code to pre-save his album and to his released music videos.
For those of you who thought “Old Town Road” would make him a one-hit wonder, you were wrong. Many artists have trouble getting more attention after a hit song, but Lil Nas X knows his audience and knows how to rise to fame and maintain it.
Tell us what you think about Lil Nas X by tagging us @HerCampusSJSU!