Back in 2021, Sega Bodega released “Angel On My Shoulder”, a single from his second studio album, Romeo. In keeping with the album art, the single artwork showed the musician sitting at a retro computer, and a glowing figure behind him with their hand on his shoulder (a bit like those pictures of Jesus you see in old people’s homes).
Cut to 2024: Lil Nas X teases a new project called Dreamboy, sharing an artwork that shows the musician sitting at a retro computer, with a glowing figure behind him. In case you haven’t caught on yet, it’s basically a carbon copy of the Sega Bodega image, with Lil Nas X acknowledging the reference after the fact, in an Instagram story.
It seems like Sega Bodega had nothing to do with the homage, though. A few hours after Lil Nas X posted, he drew attention to the similarity between the artworks via X, commenting: “not even trying to put a spin on it is where I’m like yeesh.”
In response, some Lil Nas X fans have claimed that the musician is “ungrateful” for appreciating the reference. “‘Look he did credit you in a photo that will disappear in 24 hours forever and no name whatsoever of artist or photographer! Be grateful!’ You lot sound insane,” he writes in a subsequent X post.
It’s not the first time Lil Nas X has been accused of copying other people’s ideas. In 2021, he was accused of copyright infringement over his track “Rodeo”, while his “Montero” video was criticised for its similarities with existing FKA twigs visuals. Madonna fans have also accused him of nabbing her ideas, although the singer herself is on good terms with the rapper.
Dazed has reached out to Lil Nas X’s team for comment.