Lil Nas X caught wind of video making the rounds on social media that shows an autistic boy humming and singing along to his viral hit song “Old Town Road.” According to Sheletta Brundidge, her son Daniel who is a non-verbal autistic child was listening to the song when he started singing along to the lyrics.
The heartwarming video was posted to social media on June 4.
“We had an #oldtownroad miracle at my house,” she wrote. “My son Daniel has #autism and doesn’t talk. We caught him humming the @LilNasX and @billyraycyrus tune the other day. Then Bless God, my baby started singing the song on his own. His therapists have started to use it in his sessions,” Sheletta wrote on Twitter.
Lil Nas X caught wind of the video and shared a comment, writing “what a king.”
As it turns out, Daniel is also making other progress according to his mother. According to another tweet, Daniel looking directly at the camera was also a new development in his behavior.
“We noticed about a few months ago that he began looking directly at the camera when we would take pictures,” she added on Twitter. “So it’s been bubbling up inside of him!!!! @LilNasX and @billyraycyrus just helped bring it out.”
After its initial breakout success, which landed the track on the Billboard Country Music Charts, the song was removed for not being “country enough,” according to the experts.
“Upon further review, it was determined that ‘Old Town Road’ by Lil Nas X does not currently merit inclusion on Billboard‘s country charts,” Billboard told Rolling Stone. “When determining genres, a few factors are examined, but first and foremost is musical composition. While ‘Old Town Road’ incorporates references to country and cowboy imagery, it does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music to chart in its current version.”
However, since then, listeners have continued to rally behind Lil Nas X and the track is now more popular than ever with new renditions and remixes being released by the week.
