"Panini" is a song by American rapper and singer Lil Nas X from his debut EP 7. It was released as his second single through Columbia Records on June 20, 2019. "Panini" was written by Montero Lamar Hill, David Biral, Denzel Baptiste and Oladipo Omishore, and produced by Take a Daytrip. Mike Diva directed the "Panini" music video starring Skai Jackson. Premiering on September 5, 2019, it features her trying to outrun Lil Nas X and choreographed robots in a futuristic setting. A remix with American rapper DaBaby was released on September 13, 2019.
Background
"Panini" was released by Columbia Records as Lil Nas X's second single on June 20, 2019, one day before the release of 7. Multiple music publications wrote that the chorus of the song contains an interpolation of "In Bloom", released on the 1991 albumNevermind by Nirvana and written by frontman Kurt Cobain. Lil Nas X, however, stated that the similarity between the two songs' melodies was unintentional, as he was not introduced to the band's music until after recording "Panini". Nevertheless, he later thanked Cobain's daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, for being able to interpolate "In Bloom". "Panini" is named after the fictional cabbit of the same name—a character in the animated television seriesChowder. It is composed in the key of Fm and employs common time meter. The synth-driven ostinato simulates the timbre of a brass instrument and implies a v-VI harmonic progression with the tonic chord momentarily bridging the other two and effectively behaving as a passing tone; a similar approach is likewise found in Toto's hit "Africa".
Critical reception
Beatriz da Costa of Vibe said the track felt like "a distant cousin to Travis Scott's tasty hits", and called the track "short and enjoyable". Rosalind Faulkner of NPR said that the track and Lil Nas X proved that "he can be more than a one-hit wonder."
Accolades
Music video
directed the music video for "Panini" starring Skai Jackson. It premiered on September 5, 2019. The video features her trying to outrun Lil Nas X and choreographed robots in a futuristic Tokyo setting. It makes use of several lights, holograms and advertisements; along with floating billboards and flying cars. Stereogums Tom Breihan compared the visuals to the 1982 filmBlade Runner, interpreting them as "a sort of parody of what it's like to have a song that's suddenly inescapable, and for what it's like when other people have to deal with that omnipresence". Kristin Corry of Vice similarly wrote that the video could be taken metaphorically, "because his presence in it is similar to the mega-success of the ubiquitous 'Old Town Road' this summer". Writing for Vulture, Zoe Haylock praised the video by stating that its art department and visual effects team deserve "an Academy Award? Nobel Prize?".
About a week after the "Panini" music video, the DaBaby remix of "Panini" with an animated unofficial video on Lil Nas X's YouTube channel was released on September 13, 2019, with characters from the Cartoon Networkanimated series, Chowder due to the fact that a character from Chowder has the name of "Panini". The animated music video was animated and directed by Emonee Larussa, and also co-animated by Joey Prosser, Chaz Bottoms, and Fifthpower. C. H. Greenblatt, the creator of Chowder was not involved in the production of the music video, though he praised it on his Tumblr blog.
