Lil Nas X has released a new song, “Panini” that will be featured on his upcoming EP 7.
He went to Beats 1 with Zane Lowe to discuss the new song. Panini, he said, was the first time he recorded a song in a professional environment.
“’Old Town Road’ wasn’t done in a professional studio, that’s the thing,” he told Lowe. “It was never even mixed and mastered. Like the song that you hear today, it’s not mixed or mastered. That’s from the $20 bucks I paid [for] the rough mix. It was crazy, but it’s like everything else, like lately in my life.”
The song has the same melody as Nirvana’s ‘In Bloom’ off their generation-defining album Nevermind. Apparently Nas was not aware of this. “It’s like, I always seen the cover but I never actually listened to it,” he said. “And people was like, wow, he sampled Nirvana. I was like, no. It’s like, I didn’t realize I was using almost the exact same melody. I’ve been listening to it a lot lately, actually.”
I’m sure some music fans will be bewildered that someone that had a number 1 single on Billboard never listened to Nevermind. I don’t think that reaction is warranted because not only was the album released 28 years ago, it is nowhere near similar to the kind of music Lil Nas X makes. It’s fine to stay in your lane and cultivate your style.