The 26-year-old hitmaker Lil Nas X, who skyrocketed to international stardom with his genre-crossing anthem “Old Town Road,” recently told Paper magazine about a revealing silver lining to the maelstrom of stardom: spiritual clarity.
“Fame didn’t drive me away from meaning but drove me deeper toward it,” Lil Nas X said, reflecting on his internal changes over the last few years. “I don’t think it usually works the opposite way for other people, but it made me feel more connected to everything around me and the synchronicities of life.”
For a man who formerly dismissed anything vaguely spiritual as “magical hoo-ha,” the evolution has been more than a personal pivot but a complete mindset remix. Lil Nas X confesses that he used to be a skeptical kid who dismissed spirituality as woo-woo. But somewhere on the incline, as the din of success grew louder, so did a silent beckon inward.
“There were all these things I thought were ‘magical hoo ha’ my entire life as a very sceptical young man growing up, but then I was, like, All right, this makes sense. I get this.”
The “Industry Baby” artist is not all incense and affirmations. He’s going deep into reconstituting his relationship with himself and the world around him. Rather than attempting to save the world with every decision, he’s learning to save space for himself.
“And then besides that, I’ve found that spiritual side of me; I’ve turned 180 in the sense of thinking I need to heal the world all the time and back into myself,” he said.
That transition from outward fixing to inward healing defines the new Lil Nas X, a maturity in his words, a quiet strength in understanding the need to retreat to replenish.
“But you’ve got to have that balance, like, O.K., I need to focus on me right now,” he said. “I’ve gotta do my s**t. I’m unwell, though I don’t want to admit it. And the only way I can step out there again is to get it together myself first.” Now I’m re-entering the world on tiptoes.”
It’s a raw and honest reminder that even the flashiest, largest-of-large stars have their darkness and that healing begins with listening to yourself, no matter who you are.
Lil Nas X is no longer dancing down red carpets and topping charts. He’s also treading a quieter, more grounding path, where spiritual growth matters as much as platinum records. Perhaps he’s telling us that Home is the best song after what’s been so heartbreakingly broken by the world.
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