Lil Nas X revealed that the 2001 cult film Donnie Darko inspired part of the cover design for his debut album, Montero.
Commenting on the album cover’s reveal on Aug. 31, self-described “stan account” @audnasx tweeted a zoomed-in imagine from Montero with the comment, “Is this like a water snake/ caterpillar? Love it!!!!” Signal boosting their question again on Sept. 21 with the hashtag #AskMONTERO, @audnasx got an answer from Lil Nas X himself: “have u ever seen Donnie Darko?” Lil Nas X attached an image of the Donnie Darko visual which inspired the “water snake” on the Montero cover in this response.
In the movie, Donnie Darko, directed by Richard Kelly, the title character (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) has the power to see the future, amongst other seemingly delusional but actually supernatural abilities. People’s futures are visualized in the film through liquid-like CGI tendrils which emerge from people’s chests. Though Donnie’s science teacher, Dr. Kenneth Monnitoff (Noah Wyle), believes that seeing the future doesn’t necessarily make a specific future fated, Donnie believes differently and is ultimately proven right — free will is an illusion, and Donnie’s ability to see the future shows him exactly what is destined “in God’s channel.”
Lil Nas X is no stranger to time travel tales: the official music video for his breakout hit “Old Town Road” is also a time travel story, albeit one far more straightforward than Donnie Darko. The religious symbolism throughout Donnie Darko could also be paralleled to Lil Nas X’s provocative repurposing of Christian imagery in the “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” music video. Even so, the direct Donnie Darko reference in the Montero album cover isn’t something many would realize had it not been pointed out by the artist himself, especially given Donnie Darko‘s timestream visuals were themselves inspired by various “liquid metal” special effects from films like Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
Donnie Darko is far from the only pop culture reference worked into the Montero cover. Lil Nas X previously tweeted that his own positioning in the cover art was inspired by a SpongeBob SquarePants meme (SpongeBob has been a frequent source of inspiration for Lil Nas X). Many also compared the cover’s general aesthetic to the art of Lisa Frank. Lil Nas X’s outfits have also referenced Gilgamesh from the Fate/ franchise and Pain from Naruto.
Source: Twitter
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