Lil Nas X - HOLIDAY

What this video is

Released November 13, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic's second wave, HOLIDAY arrived as Lil Nas X's first major release since his 2019 debut EP 7 and served as a bridge single toward his debut album Montero. The video exemplifies the era's shift toward cinematic, high-concept music video storytelling as a driver of streaming and social virality. By recasting himself as a futuristic Black queer Santa Claus in the…

Why it matters

HOLIDAY represents a pivotal 2020 moment in internet-era hip-hop, demonstrating how a post-viral artist could deploy holiday pop conventions, sci-fi world-building, and multi-platform marketing to sustain cultural dominance between album releases. Its cinematic production scale and…

The director

Gibson Hazard is a Boston-raised director, editor, and visual artist who began his career photographing concerts in high school after a baseball injury ended his athletic ambitions. He rose to prominence designing visuals for Drake's Aubrey & the Three Migos…