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This revival of religion-inspired popular music also includes Justin Bieber’s album Justice, released earlier this year. West’s attempts to negotiate the humility of the esoteric with the materialism of being a rap icon in his weekly gospel-inspired ‘Sunday Service’ and live listening events for Donda – the latter of which drew mixed reactions, with striking visuals of church buildings and lyrics chronicling the saving grace of faith in his life. Blasphemous connotations are at times reconciled through his characterisation as ‘eccentric’ by the press, amid his struggles with bipolar disorder. West is often accused of having a God complex, something he doesn’t exactly shy away from with lyrics like “I am a God/ Even though I’m a man of God ”. This phenomenon has been seen across decades and genres, from Madonna’s 1989 pop song Like A Prayer whose video depicted the singer referencing her Catholic upbringing in front of burning crosses, causing the Vatican to call for a boycott of her music, to Kanye West’s Christian-inspired rap albums Yeezus, Jesus Is King and most recently Donda. Religious symbols and iconography in music are nothing new or uncommon: a 1995 study of music videos on MTV showed 38 per cent of them featured religious imagery. With themes of religion and sexuality on his platinum-selling debut pop-rap album Montero (in reference to his real name Montero Lamar Hill), Lil Nas X follows in the tradition of other popular musicians who have been accused of blasphemy for depicting religion in controversial ways through art.
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Religious symbols and references have always been present in music, speaking to universal ideals of faith as well complex, individualised relationships between artists and spirituality.