Lil Nas X is on a mission. “Old Town Road” has been sitting at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 15 weeks in a row—just one week short of tying the record currently shared by “Despacito” and Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men’s “One Sweet Day” for most weeks spent at No. 1. Last week, with the record so tantalizingly near, Lil Nas X released a new “Old Town Road” remix, featuring Young Thug and Mason Ramsey in addition to Billy Ray Cyrus.
Now, Lil Nas X is looking to juice the new remix even further with an animated music video, cobbled together from a startling number of popular memes.
The whole thing is framed as a riff on the “Let’s Storm Area 51” meme that’s taken off in the past few days: as Lil Nas X and co. approach the mysterious military base, a pigeon with Thanos‘ head flies across the screen, and a stray Infinity Gauntlet lays in the dirt. These things are never returned to.
We then see The Needle Drop’s Anthony Fantano, apparently a security guard, asleep at his post, with Minecraft and the “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us” Facebook event open on dual monitors. Sensing a security breach, he pulls a lever labeled “Bruh Moment” (see this for reference). Lil Nas X pulls a panini out of a gun holster and a hoodie-wearing, blunt-smoking alien gifts Billy Ray Cyrus and Mason Ramsey some futuristic vehicles. Inexplicably, Keanu Reeves shows up doing what the youth call a “Naruto run.”
It’s all specifically engineered for virality—let’s hope it’s enough to get “Old Town Road” to 17 weeks at No. 1. Check out the full thing below:
