--- title: Lil Nas X Is on the 2019 TIME 100 Next List description: Billy Ray Cyrus writes about why Old Town Road singer Lil Nas X made the 2019 TIME 100 Next list. canonical: https://time.com/collections/time-100-next-2019/5718849/lil-nas-x/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-11-12T22:07:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-06-30T08:16:21.107Z og:title: Lil Nas X Is on the 2019 TIME 100 Next List og:description: Billy Ray Cyrus writes about why Old Town Road singer Lil Nas X made the 2019 TIME 100 Next list. og:url: https://time.com/collections/time-100-next-2019/5718849/lil-nas-x/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd4265f10b196d50b/698a058d4ee2625cb83168f6/lil-nas-x-time-100-next.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Lil Nas X Is on the 2019 TIME 100 Next List og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Lil Nas X Is on the 2019 TIME 100 Next List twitter:description: Billy Ray Cyrus writes about why Old Town Road singer Lil Nas X made the 2019 TIME 100 Next list. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd4265f10b196d50b/698a058d4ee2625cb83168f6/lil-nas-x-time-100-next.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Nov 12, 2019 # Lil Nas X by Billy Ray Cyrus  Kelia Anne for TIME I’ll never forget the morning. I was having coffee and Ron Perry from Columbia Records sent me “Old Town Road.” He said Lil Nas X wanted me to sing on it. But I told Columbia it was perfect. I couldn’t do anything to it. They asked if I’d give it a shot and come into the studio with Nas to record a third verse. We wrote it with R&B songwriter Jozzy, and it was born right there in the studio. It was magical. I told Nas he was going to be a light in this world and he would shine brighter than anyone else. And he has. He’s brought everyone together, from all musical genres and generations. “Old Town Road” changed my world—and his—forever. _Cyrus is a country-music singer and songwriter_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time-100-next-2019/5718849/lil-nas-x/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time-100-next-2019/5718849/lil-nas-x/"},"headline":"Lil Nas X","datePublished":"2019-11-12T22:07:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-06-30T08:16:21.107Z","description":"Billy Ray Cyrus writes about why Old Town Road singer Lil Nas X made the 2019 TIME 100 Next list.","url":"https://time.com/collections/time-100-next-2019/5718849/lil-nas-x/","keywords":["TIME100NEXT19"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd4265f10b196d50b/698a058d4ee2625cb83168f6/lil-nas-x-time-100-next.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd4265f10b196d50b/698a058d4ee2625cb83168f6/lil-nas-x-time-100-next.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time-100-next-2019/5718849/lil-nas-x/","name":"Lil Nas X"}}]}] ```