Supreme arrived halfway through the session. Luckily, the two producers had a separate folder containing “out-there instrumentals,” including the skeleton of “Panini.” Lil Nas X quickly warmed to the rubbery beat. “The first thing we played him was the intro guitar lick to ‘Rodeo,'” adds Take a Daytrip’s Denzel Baptiste. “He made it clear he didn’t want to be the ‘Old Town Road’ guy that only does country music,” Take a Daytrip’s David Biral says. Take a Daytrip came to the rapper with a folder full of country beats. The mix of styles was clearly the goal: Though Lil Nas X had never been in a real studio session before “Old Town Road” took off, he wasn’t afraid to direct the creative process. It’s all over the place, but it’s never “Old Town Road, Part 2” (except for the fact that “Old Town Road,” and its remix, are both on the project). There are multiple detours into pointedly retro rock - a Nirvana interpolation, production from Travis Barker of Blink-182, and guitar on “Rodeo” that suggests the Replacements’ “The Ledge.” But “C7losure (You Like)” is something else entirely: Abaz and X-Plosive, two German producers who sketched the track two years ago, tell Rolling Stone they “had Drake on our minds, something really melodic.” Elsewhere on 7, you’ll hear whistles, a string section, a saxophone, and quick transitions from programmed instrumentation to live playing. It’s bristling and obstreperous rap one moment, crisp and carefree pop the next. “Wes knew he couldn’t put a project together with the same song. “It was about bringing in producers who would do more than what would everyone would expect - just start a loop and throw in an 808,” says James Supreme, an A&R at Universal Music Publishing Group who helped place Lil Nas X in sessions with the producers Take a Daytrip (“Panini,” “Rodeo”) and Bizness Boi (“Kick It”). The key for 7, Lil Nas X’s just-released debut EP, was to ignore the hit - and to give this artist the same opportunities for in-studio trial-and-error that would be afforded to any promising 20-year-old who didn’t have the biggest song on the planet. The fear, then, is simple: “It’s only downhill from here.” Everyone likes a growth narrative, but it’s impossible to establish an upward trajectory when you start at the top. That means “Old Town Road” is also an albatross for a new artist, a hit so big that it threatens to make every subsequent effort look slight in comparison. This song is “ one of the most dominant Hot 100 Number One’s of the last 25 years ,” according to Billboard, making Drake’s single-week streaming record look puny and keeping Taylor Swift from the number one spot. Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” is less than seven months old, but it’s already a calling-card - a generation of kids will always know the words - and a cash-cow: Estimates suggest that the single has generated more than $5 million. It’s only downhill from here, man - we better do something!'” “I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is the best day you could ever have. It was Ron Perry, saying, ‘Congrats, you are officially Number One.’ He stopped, looked at his phone, looked back at me, and went, ‘Dude, I just hit Number One!’ and gave me the biggest hug. “As he was walking through the threshold of my studio, his phone dinged. “He was holding a bunch of horse balloons that his label had given him to celebrate ‘Old Town Road,'” Tedder recalls. Still, he’s never had an experience quite like the first time he hit the studio with Lil Nas X. Ryan Tedder has written songs for some of the most popular artists in the world: Beyoncé, Adele, Taylor Swift.
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