Everyone can agree that in pop music, there’s not a single person who is more of a wordsmith than Azealia Banks. However, those same people would be the first to admit that these days, all she seems to use her talent for is bullying, with her latest target being Grammy Award-winning artist Lil Nas X.
Azealia Banks took to X.com to share her latest musings on the landscape of pop culture and landed on Lil Nas X, whom she considers to have fallen off. This came out of nowhere, as the two don’t have any previous public animosity toward each other, and it’s probably just Azealia Banks’ latest stunt to stay in the conversation. While her peers typically opt to ignore her, Lil Nas X decided to take a different approach and gave us a masterclass on how to deal with bullies. First, he stood up for himself, then he responded with kindness.
He stood up for himself by reminding Azealia Banks that, even if he never makes another hit in his life, she would never reach a tenth of the success he’s seen so far. He then took to Instagram Stories to share Azealia Banks’ song Out of Space and very politely captioned it with positive words, sending her love and encouraging her to drop the bullying act she’s leaned on for far too long.
Azealia Banks, of course, not used to people responding to her, took the attention as catnip and wrote a long response about her “master plans for what Lil Nas X should do with his career and where he’s been going wrong so far. Someone in the comments on Pop Base’s post on X.com humorously noticed that Azealia Banks seems to have plans for everyone’s career but her own. Even if her critiques are always well-written — what’s her goal? Unless she plans to pivot into a career as the next Joan Rivers, this does nothing for her. The only Billboard list she’s part of these days is the one on Billboard’s website chronicling her growing collection of 23 one-sided feuds.
Ironically, Azealia Banks could take a leaf from Lil Nas X on causing stirs without creating enemies. Lil Nas X isn’t a stranger to controversy either; he just does it through his fashion statements, like when he released Nike “Satan shoes” and ended up in a legal battle, or his audacious look at the 2023 Met Gala. These stunts have won Lil Nas X his fair share of critics who insist he should “just stick to making music.” Yet, in true popstar fashion, he knows that attracting attention is part of the business, and plays the role of chief agent provocateur with precision while managing to avoid destroying personal relationships. Although, it’s unlikely Nike will ever endorse him.
Azealia Banks still has a promising music career that she can choose to nurture, or she could even pivot into podcasting, like many artists have. As Lily Allen recently pointed out, music revenue is shrinking even for top-streaming artists in today’s late-stage capitalist world. Seeking alternative ways to keep her career alive is understandable — but bullying is just not the way.
