On Sept. 6, popular artist Lil Nas X released a long awaited music video for his viral song “Panini.” The song was released back in June of 2019 through Columbia Records.                                                

Based in Tokyo, Japan, the video has a lot of futuristic elements that make it look like it’s far off in time. Not only does it feature the popular artist, it also stars the young actress Skai Jackson. The whole video is based around Jackson and Nas. 

At the beginning of the video, Jackson is sitting on the edge of a building looking out at Tokyo. The city is filled with holograms of Nas and is glistening from all of the screens and bright lights. This pulls the viewer in and sparks interest. The video continues with Jackson trying to get away from all of the Nas music, videos, holograms and pictures. 

As I was watching the video, I started to believe that it had a deeper meaning. The main reason why Jackson was trying to get away from Nas and all of the holograms and screens because she didn’t like how the world had become. It was all about one person who was on all of the screens around her. The video had a deeper meaning to it than everyone thought it did.  

The most interesting part of this video is all the futuristic aspects in it. Right when the video starts, all types of futuristic components like holograms, jet-packs, flying cars and other features appear. These elements really make the audience engaged in the video because they see technology that they don’t see in their everyday life.  

Before the video came out, I had heard the song. The more I listened to it, the more I started to enjoy it. It is very upbeat and fast paced. The lyrics to the song are also very catchy and relatable, but some of the parts don’t really make any sense. Lyrics like “Ayy, Panini, don’t you be a meanie,” out of context would not make any sense. However, in context he is talking about someone holding him back and being a “meanie”. Other parts of the song such as “I got fans finally, ain’t you wanting them to see me?” and “Said you wanted to see me thrive, you lied” could also be relatable to someone who is being held back and are not at their full potential. 

This video also has an exceptional comedic aspect to it. It shows Jackson continuing to run and not being able to get away from Nas all throughout Tokyo. It even gets to an extent to where she gets on a plane to escape him, but he ends up showing up on the wing. She can’t get away no matter how hard she tries. It is humorous to watch because it makes the audience want to see if she ever actually gets away. 

The only thing I did not understand was how the plot of the video went with the song. This song is all about him being held back and not being able to reach his full potential. The video is him all over Japan, looking to be at his full potential, chasing around Jackson. Even though I believed the narrative was outstanding and entertaining, the two didn’t really go together. 

This video went viral and was at number one on trending for multiple days. It is also number one on Apple Music. The video has racked up 36 million views. Nas was promoting the song all over Twitter and Instagram and interacting with his fans before and after releasing the video. Many people have taken the story behind the video and made memes out of it. On the day the video came out, my timeline on Twitter was flooded with memes made by and retweeted by Nas. I could tell he was enjoying the fan interaction that came from this video. 

Overall, the “Panini” music video by Nas was well produced and entertaining for the viewer to watch. The music was memorable and enjoyable. While watching the video, it makes the person watching want to sing along and dance to the fast beat. All of the futuristic aspects really brought the audience in and made them want to keep watching. The story line of the video was very entertaining. Comedic aspects were also brought in the video. I would really recommend giving this video a view and listening to the song on any platform. 

4.5/5