Lil Nas X has said he took magic mushrooms while writing 'Montero'

For his debut album, 'Montero', Lil Nas X says he used magic mushrooms for the first time to help him "open up a lot".

"I was able to open up a lot," he told WSJ reporter Myles Tanzer. "I was able to write actual stories about my life and put [them] into my music. I actually did that for the first time."

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The singer spent much of the pandemic working on 'Montero' in California Airbnbs with Denzel Baptiste and David Biral, also known as Take a Daytrip.

According to WSJ, the 22-year-old chose to take magic mushrooms in a "breakthrough moment."

Baptiste and Biral, both sober, sat by Lil Nas while he stayed out by the pool and thought on life, rather than pushing through to concentrate on music.

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According to WSJ, his drug use helped him push through many of "lingering feelings of self-consciousness."

On his debut album, Lil Nas did not shy away from personal experience, with several songs dealing with heartbreak, solitude, and even suicidal thoughts.

There has been a recent celebrity magic mushroom boom, as well as magic mushrooms making a comeback - as previously reported by Mixmag.

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Earlier this year it was reported that late reggae icon Bob Marley’s family is launching a line of mushroom products and that Mike Tyson revealed magic mushrooms ‘saved [his] life’.

Lil Nas X was being interviewed by WSJ after receiving the WSJ Magazine Innovator Award. Read the full interview here.

Aneesa Ahmed is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow her on Twitter