- Go off.
- If it were up to him, he'd do ten more remixes.
♪ (industrial intro) ♪
♪ Yeah, I'm gonna take my horse ♪
- Okay, which of the 17 versions is it?
- [Bleep], man. I'm like, listen, you can
only remix the song once.
- There are so many remixes.
- Oh yeah, he did it with BTS.
Oh my God.
♪ Ride 'til I can't no more ♪
- He's literally riding this until he can't any more.
♪ Ride 'til I can't no more I got the horses in the back ♪
- It's fun every time, though.
♪ Hat is matte black Got the boots ♪
♪ That's black to match Riding on a horse ♪
- I mean, it still bangs. I still wanna...
- The beat's really good.
- It's been number one for so long, too.
♪ Homies in my bag Have you heard of that? ♪
- I don't think I've heard this version even.
♪ Riding to the farm grabbing all the corn ♪
♪ We gon' get your money with my homie in the back ♪
- Okay, interesting. I'm conflicted
because I'm a little over it, but at the same time,
I'm so happy for Lil Nas and his success.
- This song's been around for a cool minute now
and it went from-- it was kinda funny
and then people just actually liked the song
and now it's kinda funny again because he just keeps
releasing remixes.
- The more he remixes it and different things
that he does to it, it's just funny,
'cause it's this ongoing joke.
- (FBE) So, we're gonna be showing you a bunch more
videos and remixes in a second, but that was Lil Nas X's
Old Town Road, Seoul Town Road remix
that features RM of BTS. - I also love that it's called
Seoul Town Road.
- Oh [bleep]. God, he's got such
an eclectic group of artists to sing this song with him.
It's incredible.
- (FBE) This week, Old Town Road Remix featuring Billy Ray Cyrus
broke the Billboard Hot 100 record.
- Yes, I saw that.
- (FBE) Spending an unprecedented 17 weeks as the number one song
in the country. - Wow.
The song was kind of a joke to begin with
and he's fully just gone into it and I think that's what I respect
the most out of him.
- That's a huge record broken. I gotta give it--
there's mad respect right there.
- (FBE) To celebrate the milestone, we wanna take a look back
at how Lil Nas X achieved this with a medley of the various
remixes and recuts of the song, starting with the most recent
after Seoul Town Road and going back to the original.
- Hell yeah, as long as I get to hear the Mason Ramsey one.
- I know it's still not gonna be done for a while, either,
so welcome to my hell.
- All right. Of the ones I've heard,
my favorite one is the Billy Ray Cyrus one.
I just think that's the best one.
♪ To the old town road I'm gonna ride ♪
- Billy Ray Cyrus was just the best fit
for this song.
♪ Cross town living like a rock star ♪
- Oh, it's Rico Nasty.
♪ My brand new guitar ♪
- I feel like this is going to be so many people's
Halloween costumes this year.
- Come on, Diplo.
♪ Got no stress I've been through all that ♪
- They're both completely different genres,
but this is banging.
- I didn't think Billy Ray Cyrus would ever be this
culturally relevant again, but good for him.
- I feel like any time this is on, I have to sing along
regardless of how tired I am of it.
- Young Thug and Mason Ramsey. Two names you never
thought you'd see on a hit together.
- Oh wait, what was this? An Area 51 video.
- Internet culture is just meshing.
I love this.
- Ah, he looks fab even in cartoon.
- ♪ Something ♪ I used to be obsessed
with Mason Ramsey.
- Yeah, this kid is my favorite career to follow.
- Ah, Mason Ramsey.
- Go off.
- His verse, low key, went hard though.
♪ Hop up in my Razor ♪ - Yuh.
♪ Pray that it don't phase her ♪
- It's kind of fun because they're just bringing in
all of these interesting, quirky people.
I'm not mad at it at all.
- The official movie?
♪ Old town road I'm gonna ride ♪
- ♪ 'Til I can't no more ♪ Do you think he's
[bleep] sick of this song yet? How many times has he
had to do this?
♪ Horse tack is attached Hat is matte black ♪
- Tell me Lil Nas X don't look like a freaking
badass, though.
♪ Riding on a horse You can whip your Porsche ♪
♪ I've been in the valley ♪
- I think if it were up to him, he'd do ten more remixes.
♪ You can't tell me nothing ♪
- I love all of this.
♪ Riding on a tractor ♪
- ♪ Lean all in my bladder ♪
♪ Cheated on my baby ♪
- ♪ You can go and ask her ♪
- This is obviously so ironic and self aware.
What do people love? Emojis.
- I feel like Lil Nas is pretty much ruling the internet right now.
- Diplo.
- There's one with Diplo? No way.
- I hate this. Anybody that hasn't gotten
tired of this song needs to be checked in
somewhere immediately.
♪ Gonna take my horse to the old town road ♪
- ♪ Ride 'til I can't no more ♪
- I like that all the album covers is just a different horse.
♪ To the old town road ♪
- It's a little much, this version.
- Wow, April. That's crazy.
♪ Money on my brand new guitar Baby's gotta have ♪
♪ Her diamond rings ♪ - It's a good song.
I can't be mad at it.
♪ Maserati sports car Got no stress ♪
♪ I've been through all that I'm like a Marlboro man ♪
♪ So I kick on back ♪ - It just hits.
♪ Back to that old town road ♪
- We should do a Guess That with just Old Town Road remixes.
- And then the classic.
- And then it was a Red Dead meme.
- Is this from Red Dead Redemption?
♪ Take my horse to the old town road ♪
♪ I'm gonna ride 'til I can't no more ♪
- I've been sitting here for a few minutes
relistening to the song. Ask me if I'm tired of it.
- (FBE) Are you tired of listening to this?
- I'm not. What is it about it
that makes me want to hit repeat every single time?
- When this first came out, I didn't think that it would
be as big as it is now. It's just so crazy.
He's been able to collab with some of the biggest artists.
- He promoted his song through an incredibly popular
video game, giving it that much clout
and then now he's remix-- and then it went to
the country charts, got it taken down
and then he gets Billy Ray to remix it,
puts it back up there and then it stays there?
All I gotta say, he's been making some smart moves.
- (FBE) Like we mentioned earlier, Old Town Road just landed
its 17th week in the number one spot
of the Billboard Hot 100, making it the longest running
number one single in the chart's history.
- That's so crazy to me. I can't fathom it
because I never feel like memes last this long.
- (FBE) The record was previously held by two different songs
who were both tied with 16 weeks at the top.
Do you have any idea what those songs were?
- Dark Horse and something else probably.
- Don't Stop Believing by Journey?
- Wasn't it Despacito?
- Despacito was one of them. The other song, no idea.
- I don't know the exact song, but I think one of the artists
was Mariah Carey.
- (FBE) Old Town Road broke the record previously set
by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men with One Sweet Day in 1996
and by Lois Fonsi and Daddy Yankee along with Justin Bieber
with Despacito in 2017. - Oh wow.
So one song-- I had a feeling, too,
that it was gonna be a song that was older
that has just stayed super popular
and then something a little fresher.
- Music is evolving and ever changing,
so I think it's only normal that something else is gonna
come along and replace those.
- (FBE) We've discussed Old Town Road in detail in a previous episode
so our viewers can go check that out and learn more,
but to give you some background, the song was released
as a single on December 3, 2018. It was released on Soundcloud
and iTunes with Lil Nas listing the song under
the country music genre, which some think was a way
for him to manipulate the chart so that it would be
easier to reach the top of the country chart
versus the more popular rap chart.
- That's a smart business move on his end.
He could get away with it under the country genre
and that would get it more listens 'cause then
he's getting a group of people that wouldn't normally listen
to just hip hop.
- (FBE) Lil Nas began creating memes to promote the single
and it was eventually picked up by TikTok users where the song
became the backdrop for what many call
the yeehaw challenge. - Dang, dude.
He's a strategic mastermind.
- (FBE) The challenge is credited by many with propelling
the song onto the Hot 100 charts. What do you think about
the evolution of the song and Lil Nas' strategy behind it?
- I do-- I mean, what started it all,
to me I think, is the fact that he made sure
that his song was on the country charts,
'cause rap is way more competitive with things
like Soundcloud.
- I don't think it means he was manipulating anything.
If anything, it was smart because it is country.
It is not your typical classical country,
but I think definitely we all started as the meme
and just went with it and memes are the best way
to market anything.
- He understands our culture enough to know,
"Oh, he needs to hit social media.
That's where everything can spread like wildfire."
and it just shows how strong people are in masses.
- It's become an in joke with this entire population
of people. It's such a great example
of how much individuals can really accomplish
because this isn't something where it's like,
"Oh, a record label is promoting the [bleep] out of it."
- Anyone can be a musician if they really want to be
and it's your job to make yourself successful
and your job to figure out what you can do
and what ways you can promote yourself
and the way that he did it with the internet is smart.
He's a child of the internet, he's a product of the internet,
and his music is literally the star of the internet.
- The memes really pushed it to become so popular.
Other artists within the community have seen the impact
that this song has had and for that reason
have wanted to jump on the remix.
That's why Old Town Road has 14 different remixes to it.
- (FBE) So the song has officially released
four remixes with a variety of music and lyric videos.
Billboard counts streams, YouTube video views,
and remixes as one single entity as long as they meet
certain qualifications, meaning that all the remixes
and videos we showed you today count towards the Hot 100 metrics.
- Which I think is smart because it's like,
okay, you're taking every possible route and venue
that you can use to benefit yourself.
- (FBE) In a New York Times podcast, the reporters implicated
that Lil Nas was gaming the charts by releasing
multiple remixes, but his fans and others
seem to be okay with what he's been doing.
What are your thoughts around what Lil Nas
has done with the song and do you think
this is giving us a taste of the future
of the music industry? - I mean, I think there's
always gonna be people that are mad when
somebody has a strategy that they didn't think of,
'cause they're like, "Oh, it's cheating."
No, they're just using the rules in a different way.
I think if anything, we're just gonna lean
heavier into that, of bringing people on
and making more collaborative efforts.
- The song is different every time.
You get the classic Old Town Road chorus that you love,
but you also get new artists jumping on and adding bars,
adding new lyrics to the song, so it almost feels like
it's fresh and it's new and it's different.
When songs get super popular, they get remixes all the time.
They get up to two different ones.
This one got seven. So what?
- His whole strategy behind how he's marketed
and brought it up is brilliant.
He took complete advantage of modern society
and technology and social media and made himself number one.
- To me, I just see Lil Nas X as this authentic human
and I think he's having fun with it and that's
what the appeal is for me to keep on listening
to the remixes. It's not because whatever
record company that is above him is telling him to do this
but because I feel like he's the one making the moves.
- It's your song, so if you wanna release 18 different versions of it,
so be it, 'cause it's yours. You worked on it.
Nobody can take that away from you.
It's a way to get it out there, so you can't really blame him
for that, but I'm just hoping that other artists don't say,
"Hey, let's take this one song and remix it 13 times."
- (FBE) In June 2019, Lil Nas X came out as gay.
He's the only artist to ever do so while having a number one
hit record. How important do you think it is
for an artist to come out like this while they're on top?
- I mean, I don't think there's necessarily a direct correlation
between, "You come out when you're the most successful
in your career." It's whenever you're ready
and I think when you do get this famous
and this successful, it probably adds a sense
of confidence to you and that helps you
be more comfortable with who you are.
- He's like, "You know what? Screw it.
I'm on top. I can do whatever I want."
and he came out and that's so awesome.
Not only is he black, but he's gay and he's
topping country charts. That is iconic.
- I think it's so important too for the black community
because within the black community, being part
of the LGBT community is something that's
still kind of taboo and so to have somebody
who is so big and such a huge face in music right now
come out, I think that's so important.
- When I was growing up, we didn't have artists
like Lil Nas and Troye Sivan, et cetera, who are out and proud
and producing music successfully because people didn't want
to put money into us. They didn't wanna see us succeed.
If I had all of these people when I was growing up,
I probably would have come out a lot sooner
and would have been just myself from the jump.
- It just shows that as a society, we're a lot
more accepting than maybe ten years ago
where this would have been something if he were to do it,
it probably would ruin his career.
It doesn't matter what his orientation is,
it's just the music that we love and all the memey goodness of it.
- (FBE) So finally, how many more weeks do you think
Old Town Road will stay as the number one spot?
- Dude, who knows? Maybe another 17 weeks.
Who knows?
- I'm giving it five to ten more weeks.
I keep seeing him talking about potentially collaborating
with other people, with Dolly Parton,
he mentioned recently on Twitter.
- They've already broken the record.
That was his goal. Let's say within the next
couple of weeks it's just gonna start slowing down.
- How many more remixes can he make?
I wanna hear so many different genres and versions.
I think we could go a solid year.
- Thanks for watching this episode of College Kids React.
Shoutout to Sugar and Spice.
- Subscribe and hit the bell so you never miss an episode.
- Bye.
- Hi guys, I'm JC, producer at FBE.
Make sure to join the FBE Superfam.
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