Romantic talkin’? You don’t even have to try. No, really stop trying because Lil Nas X is taken.
The Grammy-winning singer revealed in a cover story for Variety’s Power of Young Hollywood issue published Wednesday that he’s locked down a serious relationship since skyrocketing to fame over the past few years.
“I didn’t really have a sexual life besides one person or two,” he said of his experiences before his smash hit “Old Town Road” became a global phenomenon. “It’s definitely made things a lot more interesting, to say the least.”
“I’ve had some good boyfriends, some bad ones. A lot of them emotionally unavailable and whatnot,” the “Industry Baby” singer continued. “A lot of insecurity between them. But yeah, I found somebody special now.
“Yeah. I think this is the one. I can’t explain it. It’s a feeling,” he added without revealing any further details about his boyfriend.
Some fans have speculated that Lil Nas X may be linked to backup dancer Yai Ariza, who famously licked his neck midway through the hip-hop star’s “Saturday Night Live” appearance in May. The dancer also locked lips with him onstage at BET Awards last month during his much-buzzed about performance at the awards show.
Lil Nas X previously teased that he was “dating someone” in an issue of CR Men last year, but stopped short of calling it a relationship. Apparently, things have progressed since then.
The 22-year-old star, who came out as a member of the LGBTQ community in June 2019, said he was 18 when he entered his first relationship, which began over the social networking app Grindr.
“Before that, there was a guy who wasn’t my boyfriend, but we met in middle school and we talked, after we both found out that each other were gay,” he explained. “But I didn’t act on anything until high school — well, middle school, but then high school.”
Nas recalled first realizing he was gay around age 5 when he developed a crush on his sister’s cousin. (He clarified that he and his sister have different fathers.)
Being open and unapologetic about his sexuality has been a hard-fought journey for Nas, as battling homophobia from a young age “bred a lot of self-hate.” It wasn’t until this past year that he learned to accept all parts of himself and stop living for others people’s approval.
“The pandemic helped me get out of the idea of trying to please everybody, and the idea of ‘He’s a cool gay person; he’s an acceptable gay person,’” he told the outlet. “I used to see things like that as a compliment, but it’s not. It just means you’re a people pleaser, and they never become legends.
He added: “I wanted to be even more authentic in my music and let people into my life. I’m much more confident now — in my music, myself, my sexuality, the things that I believe that I stand for.”