AUDIO: LIFE AFTER SALEM by Lil Nas X

“LIFE AFTER SALEM” is the fourteenth track from Lil Nas X’s debut album, MONTERO.

Followed by a slow sad rock instrumental, Lil Nas X is probably referring to a person he loves, how he doesn’t love them anymore, that they are changing and that he wants to know what they want from him.

In the leaked version of the project, the song was placed third, but Nas “shook up” the songs and changed the track’s final placement.

The song’s title could also be a reference to the famous Salem Witch Trials. Public figures often use the phrase “witch hunt” to describe waves of public anger or outrage against them. Lil Nas X has experienced multiple waves of public criticism and outrage in his time in the public eye, and now in this song, he is trying to reckon with what it means for him to love after surviving a “witch hunt,” and how the witch hunt changes his view of love and his relationships.