Lil Nas X 'Montero (Call Me By Your Name)' by Tanu Muino

Tanu Muino directs a bold, innovative promo for Lil Nas X that has courted a whole heap of controversy - and not entirely for the reasons it intended. 

The video for Montero (Call Me By Your Name) is a tour de force of 3D art, larger than life set pieces and a truly mesmerising performance, and is presented with an important message of freedom from the trailblazing artist.

With it's huge CGI build and characterisation of Lil Nas in a number of roles, Muino has created an extraordinary fantasy world to showcase the artist's unapologetic attitude, with Paris-based Mathematic doing the heavy-lifting in terms of VFX work.

Nas starts on a journey, where he encounters various version of himself. Ultimately he descends from the heavens straight into Satan's lap, where he gives a sultry lapdance, all the while celebrating and embracing who he is - and blocking out the naysayers and haters.

The unintended controversy comes with the sequence of Nas's descent on a pole to Satan's lair, and its similarities to elements of FKA Twigs' Cellophane video by Andrew Thomas Huang. After a series of anguished posts on social media by Huang, Lil Nas X has now acknowledged the close similarity of the sequences in the two videos, in an Instagram post on March 30th, in which he describes Cellophane as a "masterpiece." 

i want to show love to @fkatwigs & @andrewthomashuang ! the “cellophane” visual is a masterpiece.i want to say thank u to twigs for calling me and informing me about the similarities between the two videos, as i was not aware they were so close. was only excited for the video to come out. i understand how hard you worked to bring this visual to life. you deserve so much more love and praise.