Lil Nas X has stormed the charts, broken Twitter and become a bona fide LGBTQ+ icon in the last few weeks. Now he is dipping his toe into the world of video games in the only way you would expect from Lil Nas X with the release of Twerk Hero.

It is a free-to-play browser game that allows the user to control Lil Nas X as he twerks energetically to his new single ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’. The aim is to get his cheeks to hit the onscreen arrows as he bops along to the song.

https://twitter.com/LilNasX/status/1379913998695419905?s=20

I played the game for ‘research’ (before crying over my journalism masters degree and writing this article) and it was surprisingly difficult. You can try it out yourself here.

https://twitter.com/brighthtml/status/1379926564192804865

‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’ has been a roaring success. Released on 26th March, it has already amassed over 46.9 million US streams and sold 21,000 downloads in the week ending 1st April, according to Billboard. It also attracted 1.1 million radio airplay audience impressions in the week ending 4th April. The video which was released at the same time has over 106 million views on YouTube after less than three weeks.

Lil Nas X has faced massive backlash online from conservative commentators (who are sure to love Twerk Hero) for the video where he goes to hell and lap dances with the devil, and just for being a successful black gay man. Not that Lil Nas cares as the controversy has helped propel him to number one in the US and a host of other countries, including Ireland.

This follows on from his extraordinarily successful first single in 2019. ‘Old Town Road’ featuring Billy Rae Cyrus became the longest-running No 1 in US chart history, racking up 19 weeks at the top and in January 2021 it became the highest certified song ever by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), reaching 14-times platinum status in the US – accumulating 14 million in equivalent song units.

It is all in an honest day’s twerk for Lil Nas X.