LIL NAS X is treating his latest single “J Christ” as a new beginning, a clean slate as he launches into his first album since his debut record Montero nearly three years ago. “The old has passed away; behold, the new has come,” reads a Bible verse that appears at the end of the newly-released video. After he’s survived a treacherous storm, he begins steering his ark towards calmer waters. The rapper even dedicated the record to “the man who had the greatest comeback of all time.” But comebacks work a little differently for biblical figures than for pop stars defending the sanctity of their artistry. “The problem is y’all judge everything at face value. I’ve never released a visual without an underlying meaning and y’all know that,” the rapper posted on X (formerly Twitter) ahead of the single. “Since I’m a troll, y’all discount my art as just ‘pissing people off.’”

He was responding to premature reactions to “J Christ,” which he teased with a fake college acceptance letter from Liberty University, a photo of him laying on a cross, and an announcement that he was officially entering his Christian era. It was deemed blasphemous before anything had even arrived. The popular Twitch streamer Kai Cenat recently went on a rant about the rapper, spitting: “God gonna handle you, bro. He’s extremely disrespectful. Go on his page, bro. He’s disrespecting God himself. He’s disrespecting the whole culture.” But Lil Nas X learned long ago that provocation is too good of a marketing tool to pass up. As a Black, gay musician simultaneously operating at the intersection between pop and rap, his general existence is a cultural lightning rod either way.

Is he at fault for getting ahead of the inevitable and using it to his advantage? Or are those who end up scandalized at fault for taking the obvious bait in the first place? It’s not like pop music has ever had a particularly healthy relationship with religious figures or conservatives, either. Doja Cat made use of religious imagery last summer when she rode a dragon to her rendezvous with the devil in “Paint the Town Red.” And Sabrina Carpenter still felt light as a feather in October when a Brooklyn priest was demoted for letting her film a “violent and sexually provocative” music video on church property.