"Thats What I Want" (stylized in

all caps In typography, text or font in all caps (short for "all capitals") contains capital letters without any lowercase letters. For example: All-caps text can be seen in legal documents, advertisements, newspaper headlines, and the titles on book co ...

) is a song by the American rapper and singer

Lil Nas X Montero Lamar Hill (born April 9, 1999), better known by his stage name Lil Nas X ( ), is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He rose to prominence with the release of his 2018 country rap single "Old Town Road," the longest-running nu ...

, released through

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

on September 17, 2021, as the fourth single from his debut studio album '' Montero'' (2021). It is a

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...

song with elements of

power pop Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a subgenre of rock music and form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, ...

, in which he is singing about wanting love. It was written by Lil Nas X and the song's producers,

Omer Fedi Omer Fedi (; born 25 March 2000) is an Israeli record producer, songwriter and musician from Tel Aviv. He has co-written or produced songs such as " Mood" by 24kGoldn, " Montero (Call Me by Your Name)" by Lil Nas X, " Unholy" by Sam Smith, and ...

, Blake Slatkin,

Ryan Tedder Ryan Benjamin Tedder (born June 26, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder, frontman, and lead vocalist for the pop rock band OneRepublic, while also serving as a prolific cont ...

, and KBeaZy. It received favorable reviews, with critics comparing it to

Outkast Outkast (sometimes written as OutKast) was an American hip-hop duo formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1992, consisting of Big Boi (Antwan Patton) and André 3000 (André Benjamin, formerly known as Dré). Widely regarded as one of the greatest an ...

's work, especially to their 2003 single "

Hey Ya! "Hey Ya!" is a song by American hip hop duo Outkast, performed by its member André 3000, who wrote and produced the song. Along with " The Way You Move", recorded by Outkast's other member Big Boi and which featured Sleepy Brown, "Hey Ya! ...

". The song's release was accompanied by a Stillz-directed music video featuring the rapper falling in love with a football player. It contains a cameo from Billy Porter and an homage to the 2005 film ''

Brokeback Mountain ''Brokeback Mountain'' is a 2005 American neo-Western romantic drama film directed by Ang Lee and produced by Diana Ossana and James Schamus. Adapted from Brokeback Mountain (short story), the 1997 short story by Annie Proulx, the screenplay ...

''. Lil Nas X performed this song for the first time on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

Live Lounge The Live Lounge is a segment on the British radio stations BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra. It was originally hosted by Simon Mayo, and later by Jo Whiley on her weekday mid-morning, and later weekend lunchtime radio shows, then by Fearne Cott ...

. It became a top ten hit in many countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom.

Composition

"Thats What I Want" was written by Lil Nas X, and the song's producers:

, Blake Slatkin,

, and KBeaZy. It is a

song backed-up by acoustic guitar, "breezy" rhythm, "acoustic strums and hand claps and raindrop-bloopy synth notes." The song was compared by the critics to

's "

" (2003),

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...

's "

Shake It Off "Shake It Off" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and the lead single from her fifth studio album, '' 1989'' (2014). She wrote the song with its producers, Max Martin and Shellback. Inspired by the media scrutiny on Swif ...

" (2014) and

the Kid Laroi Charlton Kenneth Jeffrey Howard (born 17 August 2003), known professionally as the Kid Laroi (stylized as The Kid LAROI), is an Australian rapper, singer and songwriter. He was first discovered by Triple J Unearthed in 2016 at the age of 13. As ...

and

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Regarded as a pop icon, he is recognized for his multi-genre musical performances. He was discovered by record executive Scooter Braun in 2008 and subsequently brought to the U ...

's "

Stay Stay may refer to: Places * Stay, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the US Law * Stay of execution, a ruling to temporarily suspend the enforcement of a court judgment * Stay of proceedings, a ruling halting further legal process in a tr ...

" (2021). The track begins with the rapper stating "Need a boy who can cuddle with me all night." The song's chorus is accompanied by "

" background choir and it sees Lil Nas X singing that he wants to have a lover. Sheet music for the song gives the key of

C-sharp minor C-sharp minor is a minor scale based on C, with the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature consists of four sharps. The C-sharp natural minor scale is: Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale ar ...

with a tempo of 88 beats per minute. Vocals range from the note of B₃ and A₅.

Release and promotion

Lil Nas X first previewed the song on

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

on February 14, 2021. On August 26, 2021, Lil Nas X published another ''Montero'' announcement in a form of news, with "Thats What I Want" playing in the background. Hours before the album's release, the rapper uploaded a video on his

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel entitled ''The Montero Show'', where he presents his music videos from the least to the most favorite, but when he is about to announce the "Thats What I Want" video his water breaks. Deryck Whibley and Jason McCaslin talks about the Underclass Hero single of the song from the video. With the album's release, the song has been announced as its fourth single. On the same day it received airplay premiere on Australian

mainstream radio Contemporary hit radio (CHR, also known as contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top ...

station

The Music Network ''The Music Network'' (''TMN'') is an Australian music magazine launched as a in 1994 by John Woodruff. It was printed weekly until March 2013, when it went fully online. In 2017 it was acquired by Jake Challenor, who served as its publisher an ...

and British

. It impacted pop radios in Italy and the United States on September 24 and 28 respectively. Later it was sent to the US

rhythmic contemporary Rhythmic contemporary, also known as Rhythmic Top 20, Rhythmic Top 30, Rhythmic Top 40, Rhythmic CHR or rhythmic crossover, is a primarily American music-radio format that includes a mix of EDM, upbeat rhythmic pop, hip-hop and upbeat R&B hit ...

stations on October 5. He debuted this song live on September 22, 2021, for BBC Radio 1's

Critical reception

Carl Wilson from ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

'' stated that "Thats What I Want" is a "fantastic" song and an "anthem of same-sex longing"; while Mike Wass of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' called it "toe-tapper with massive radio appeal". Its chorus has been described as "indelible" by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''s

Alexis Petridis Alexis Petridis (born 13 September 1971) is an English journalist. He is the head Rock music, rock and pop music critic for ''The Guardian'', and a regular contributor for ''GQ''. In addition to his music journalism for the paper, he has written ...

, "snappy" by Gil Kaufman of ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'', and "stirring" in an article published on ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' by

Maura Johnston Maura K. Johnston (born May 28, 1975) is a writer, editor and music critic. A member of Boston College's journalism faculty, she has written for ''Rolling Stone'', ''The Boston Globe'', ''Pitchfork'', ''The Awl'', ''The New York Times'', ''Spin' ...

. Calling its beat "infectious", David Smyth of ''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

'' said that Lil Nas X could have made the pronouns ambiguous for "mass appeal", but opposing to that he made the song "

ing Ing, ING or ing may refer to: Art and media * '' ...ing'', a 2003 Korean film * i.n.g, a Taiwanese girl group * The Ing, a race of dark creatures in the 2004 video game '' Metroid Prime 2: Echoes'' * "Ing", the first song on The Roches' 199 ...

completely true". Writing for ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'', Jon Dolan assigned to the song adjectives such as "playful", "hopeful", "sweet", and "proud"; while ''

New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...

''s Emily Bootle described it as an "innocent, emotive love song". Zoya Raza-Sheikh from ''

Gay Times ''Gay Times'' (stylized in all caps), also known as ''GAY TIMES Magazine'' and as ''GT'', is a UK-based LGBTQ+ magazine established in 1984. Originally a magazine for gay and bisexual men, the company began including content for the LGBTQ+ comm ...

'' said it is a "soaring track packed with unapologetic

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

heartache that builds the record's momentum". In an article published by ''Billboard'' in late September 2021, the song was described as "designed to be a charts favorite" by Stephen Daw, while Jason Lipshutz said that it "functions as a spiritual sequel to '

Montero (Call Me by Your Name) "Montero (Call Me by Your Name)" is a song by the American rapper and singer Lil Nas X. First previewed in a Super Bowl LV commercial in February 2021, the song was released on March 26, 2021, through Columbia Records, as the lead single and ti ...

' (2021)".

Commercial performance

"Thats What I Want" debuted at number 10 on ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on the chart issued October 2, 2021, giving Lil Nas X his third top ten debut and fifth top ten hit. It later peaked at number eight on the chart issued April 2, 2022. It charted within the top ten with the album's previous singles "Montero (Call Me by Your Name)" and "

Industry Baby "Industry Baby" (stylized in all caps) is a song by American rapper Lil Nas X featuring fellow American rapper Jack Harlow, released on July 23, 2021, through Columbia Records. The song features co-production by American rapper and record prod ...

", giving the rapper his first time where three of his songs were simultaneously within top ten. It also appeared at number 5 on

Streaming Songs The Streaming Songs chart is released weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine and lists each week's top streamed radio songs, on-demand songs and videos on leading online music services in the United States. The chart represents one ...

chart with 24.2 million streams. Additionally, "Thats What I Want" debuted on the

Mainstream Top 40 Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/contemporary hit radio, CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played o ...

chart at number 34 and reached number one on the chart dated February 19, 2022, becoming Lil Nas X's third consecutive number one single on the chart. The song also went on to become his first multi-week chart topper on the

Pop Airplay Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/ CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played on a panel of Top 40 radio stations in the U ...

chart, retaining the top spot for 4 non-consecutive weeks. It also debuted on ''Billboard''s global charts, at number 4 on the main chart, while logging at number 8 on Excluding US chart with 39.6 million streams from outside the US. Elsewhere, "Thats What I Want" became highest debut in UK Singles Chart on chart issue September 30, 2021, logging at number 10. It was also placed at number 7 on

ARIA Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

Music video

The music video for "Thats What I Want" was directed by STILLZ and produced by Esteban Zuluaga, Malcolm Duncan, and Fabien Colas which premiered on September 17, 2021. During a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

game at the fictional Montero University, whose players wear pink uniforms, Lil Nas X falls from the sky to crash on the field, causing him to injure his knee. As he is taken off the field, he meets the eyes of another player, played by Yai Ariza. The two of them meet alone in the locker room, where they begin to kiss. Later they are seen in a passionate

sex Sex is the biological trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing organism produces male or female gametes. During sexual reproduction, a male and a female gamete fuse to form a zygote, which develops into an offspring that inheri ...

scene in the shower, with Lil Nas X opening a

Durex Durex is a British brand of condoms and personal lubricants owned by Reckitt, Reckitt Benckiser. It was initially developed in London under the purview of the London Rubber Company and British Latex Products Ltd, where it was manufactured betwee ...

condom package. In the second verse, the pair are seen next to a campfire in cowboy outfits as well as being intimate in a tent; the scene is a homage to ''

'' (2005). Next, Lil Nas X goes to the other man's house with flowers, only to discover he is married to a woman and has a child. Lil Nas X drives home in anguish, gets drunk, and eventually passes out. At the end of the video, Lil Nas X enters a church wearing a white wedding gown and walks down the aisle in tears. At the altar a priest, played by Billy Porter, gives him an electric guitar, on which Lil Nas X plays a solo. Kaufman described the video as "steamy, drama-filled", adding that it is "fittingly high drama visual for an album that has already given us some other iconic videos for 'Industry Baby' and 'Montero (Call Me by Your Name)'." Writing for ''

The Fader ''The Fader'' is a magazine established in 1999 as an outlet for Cornerstone Agency, a marketing and public relations firm established by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. History and work It is owned by T ...

'', Shaad D'Souza described it as "raunchy" and "cinematic". Wilson said that it is "tour de force performance of in-your-face queerness".

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2021 singles 2021 songs Lil Nas X songs Columbia Records singles LGBTQ-related songs American pop rock songs Songs about loneliness Song recordings produced by KBeaZy Song recordings produced by Omer Fedi Song recordings produced by Ryan Tedder Songs written by Lil Nas X Songs written by Omer Fedi Songs written by Ryan Tedder Songs written by KBeaZy American power pop songs Songs written by Blake Slatkin