Lil Nas X and Ariana Grande are kicking off their new musical eras on the same day

The stage is set for Friday, January 12 to be a huge kick-off for the year in pop music. Ariana Grande has already announced her return with “yes, and”, her first solo release since the 2020 album Positions. Now, Lil Nas X is joining the fray with “J Christ,” the lead single off of his follow-up to 2021’s Montero. In typical fashion, Nas courts controversy by once again provoking Christians everywhere, using an image of himself crucified on a cross as the single’s artwork.

Like Doja Cat, Nas is part of a new cohort of artists who are also digital natives and use online outrage bait to his advantage. “J Christ” seems to be a direct response to the backlash that surrounded “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” which prominently featured the singer giving a lap dance to the devil. The imagery (in conjunction with Nas’s queer identity) launched conspiracy theories that he was a Satanist or a member of the Illuminati, something Nas played into during that album cycle.

This time around, he’s flipped the script, playfully teasing his “Christian era” for months. His TikToks leading up to the release of “J Christ” have leaned into the language of online Christian conspiracy theories, teasing that “the industry tried to make me satanic” and that he was going to “expose y’all favorite artists” so he needs to “watch [his] back.” In one clip, he showed himself “explaining to fans that the media stopped supporting me after i started promoting god to the masses. And that the industry is wicked which is why i was blackballed from releasing music for the last year and a half. But i’m finally independent now and will be dropping a new song next week.”

@lilnasx

♬ Swimming - Flawed Mangoes

This is another bit of high-caliber trolling from Nas (and judging by the amount of TikTok comments along the lines of “Pls lord i’m begging u help this be true,” lots of folks are falling for it), helping him drum up new controversy to promote his new music. “MY NEW SINGLE IS DEDICATED TO THE MAN WHO HAD THE GREATEST COMEBACK OF ALL TIME!” he captioned the “J Christ” announcement on Twitter. Then, a mere half hour later—barely any time for the backlash to have kicked off—he chided, “the crazy thing is nowhere in the picture is a mockery of jesus. Jesus’s image is used throughout history in people’s art all over the world. I’m not making fun of shit. yall just gotta stop trying to gatekeep a religion that was here before any of us were even born. Stfu.”

By contrast, Grande (a much more established hitmaker) announced her single without much fanfare, simply sharing the title, release date, and album art on social media. The build-up to the announcement was also less involved, as Instagrams showing Grande in the studio with megawatt producer Max Martin was enough to get fans excited. (Though Grande, too, has employed provocative religious imagery in her day; see: the “God is a woman” video.)

But Grande is a totally different artist from Lil Nas X. Grande is in some ways from the old school of pure pop divas, while Nas is part of a new class of performance artists. For Nas, the narrative is part of the project; the assumed controversy seems to be baked into the song itself. It’s a savvy technique in an age where the music market is more segmented than ever, and getting and keeping fans’ attention has never been more difficult. Pop fans will be able to enjoy both flavors this Friday.