Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero’ on Max, A Hangout Doc With The Rapper, Singer, And Viral Star As He Celebrates His Arrival And Considers What’s Next

Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero (now streaming on Max, formerly known as HBO Max), named after the breakout “Old Town Road” star’s first full-length album and given name, finds the rapper, singer and social media provocateur in a contemplative place as he and his team launch his first headlining tour. Directed by Carlos López Estrada and Zac Manuel, and shot over two months in 2022 and ‘23, during tour stops and at his new Los Angeles home, Long Live Montero catches Nas X as he indulges in his newfound fame, embraces coming out, and considers his status and influence as a Black queer artist operating in a high-exposure place. Sure, his live show includes an elaborate, custom-designed horse. But “Old Town Road” was just the beginning…    

LIL NAS X: LONG LIVE MONTERO: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

The Gist: It’s a dream, he wished it on a genie/I got fans finally, ain’t you wantin’ them to see me? Onstage at Detroit’s Fox Theatre, as Lil Nas X performs his Grammy-nominated single “Panini,” he and his passel of dancers appear shirtless, with matching gold arm gauntlets and leg greaves, chest pieces with leather straps, and a codpiece in the form of a blazing golden sun. If you’re gonna go big for your first national tour following an international smash hit, this is certainly an expressive way to do it, with a video backdrop that recalls Tarsem’s 2011 fantasy Immortals and the wider known universe. 

The themes of Lil Nas X’s live show, like the chapter headings of Long Live Montero, are “rebirth,” “transformation,” and “becoming,” formulating the now 24-year-old’s overnight viral success with 2019’s country/trap/country-trap hit “Old Town Road” into a journey encompassing viral spontaneity, the many forms of creativity, and not missing the moment or the opportunity. It’s one thing to make a song, promote the hell out of it on social media, and see it suddenly catch fire; it’s entirely another to be the star, and prepare for tour with daily choreography sessions back in LA. “It’s scary,” Nas X says in the doc, a month out from day one. “They’re all so good.” But the dancers are not just pros but a supportive group, too, and there’s an easy camaraderie between them and the man of the hour, who came out publicly in the months after “Old Town Road” broke huge.

“I felt like coming out was very important if I wanted to progress,” Lil Nas X says in Montero, where he’s often interviewed from between the mess of white sheets in his bedroom. “There are still parts of myself that I am learning to accept,” he continues, a theme the doc supports with sequences full of fan testimonials regarding their own experiences with inclusion and embracing their personhood. We also meet members of Lil Nas X’s family, see him interact backstage with Madonna, and get more glimpses of the live show as it travels through San Francisco, Atlanta, and Boston, where the rapper and singer buys pizzas for the Christian protestors who accost his fans outside the venue.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of? Back in 2020, Ariana Grande documented her third world tour with Excuse Me, I Love You, and that film’s exploration of pop star mechanics, such as the grind of learning and training for lengthy dance routines, is echoed in Long Live Montero. Montero and Lil Nas X himself also directly reference Little Richard as a Black artist who operated from a place of strength within spaces both straight and queer, an aspect of Richard’s life and career explored at length in Lisa Cortés’ 2023 documentary Little Richard: I Am Everything.  

Performance Worth Watching: Let’s hear it for the dancers. Much like Taylor Swift’s crew did in the recent Eras Tour concert film, Lil Nas X’s group of supporting dancers are a constant presence on the Long Live Montero stage, driving the choreography and production themes forward. Offstage, they also become a kind of mobile moral support unit for the young star as he navigates his first big tour.

Memorable Dialogue: “Tomorrow is the first day of tour. Detroit. And I’m wondering, like, am I going to shake it all off and just go crazy and have fun? Or am I going to freeze up and, and – go back inside of my dad’s balls?” Long Live Montero is at its most lively when it lets its subject just riff in confessional mode. 

Sex and Skin: Well, onstage or off, Lil Nas X doesn’t wear a lot of shirts.  

Our Take: Lil Nas X fans will undoubtedly get a kick out of the live footage in Long Live Montero. But some of the doc’s most interesting moments are in the focus it puts on the conception and realization of the tour. When an artist becomes well-known for a viral hit, which picks at the idea that it’s all just one fleeting moment for the “Mambo No. 5” pile, how do you construct a fleshed-out reality around him, and what does that look like? For Nas X, that means a lot of gold. It means dynamic choreography. It means ambitious live setpieces like “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” which Nas X calls a growth song. And not just because he emerges from a cocoon on stage. He says “Montero” allowed him to leap past his “friendly cowboy” role in favor of becoming a “gay guy in public.” 

But it also means hiring a horse designer. Los Angeles-based fabricator and sculptor Margot Rada is interviewed in Montero as she sews glowing LED eyes into the incredible, gold-plated, working equine costume that will be operated on stage by Lil Nas X and two of his dancers. Live, the moment encapsulates the hugeness of “Old Town Road.” But it also expresses the tour’s need to be larger and more physically grand than just one song. And with that, Montero also gives its subject lots of space to get philosophical about how his life has changed, both as an artist on his first headlining jaunt and as a man continuing to hone his personal and professional identity.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Follow Montero Lamar Hill as he takes the Lil Nas X mystique out on the road in an imaginative and expansive live show. But hang with him, too, in his bedroom at home, or while dancing solo in tour buses. Long Live Montero is an engaging doc that reveals an artist in the very midst of capitalizing on his whirlwind journey to fame while also giving thought to his personal identity.

Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.