Lil Nas X has dropped the video for his latest single “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)” and it’s a candy-coloured riot of biblical references and provocative lap dances sure to piss off the God-fearing folk. 

The video takes place in a mythological fantasyland where Adam makes out with the serpent, shackled prisoners with candy floss hair are judged and sentenced by gods in towering pastel-hued rococo wigs, and a stripper pole takes you down to hell to seduce the devil. While there’s a lot to take in from the video, no doubt one of the standouts is the hair that comes courtesy, of course, of wig genius Evanie Frausto who has made these elaborate 18th century hairstyles a trademark. 

Channeling the love child of Marie Antoniette and The Fifth Element’s Ruby Rhod, Lil Nas X wears multiple towering icy blue wigs with perfect curls as well as a candy-pink Cupid-esque ringlet style during the Colosseum-set scene of judgement. Elsewhere we see the rapper with long dreadlocks while in the Garden of Eden and blood-red cornrows with slick baby hairs during the Satan lap dance scene. Complementing the hair is make-up by Anthony Nguyen who gives us equally camp looks from the rhinestone freckles to the icy blue and silver eye looks with butterfly motifs. 

Named after himself (Montero is his legal name), this song is Lil Nas X’s most personal musical offering to date and alongside the video he posted an emotional open letter to his 14-year-old self sending love from the future. “I know we promised to never come out publicly, I know we promised to never be 'that' type of gay person, I know we promised to die with the secret, but this will open doors for many other queer people to simply exist,” part of the letter reads. 

“People will be angry,” it continues. “They will say I’m pushing an agenda. But the truth is, I am. The agenda to make people stay the fuck out of other’s people’s lives and stop dictating who they should be.” The narrative of the music video continues this theme of facing judgement and journeying towards self-acceptance. After being sent down to hell, Nas harnesses his sexuality to strip the devil of his power as an evil force, a statement for the video explains, “dismantling the throne of judgement and punishment that has kept many of us from embracing our true selves out of fear.”

Watch the video below.