"Panini" is a song by American rapper

Lil Nas X Montero Lamar Hill (born April 9, 1999), known by his stage name Lil Nas X ( ), is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He rose to prominence with the release of his country rap single " Old Town Road", which first achieved viral popula ...

from his second EP '' 7'' (2019). It was released as his second single through Columbia Records on June 20, 2019. "Panini" was written by Lil Nas X, alongside production duo Take a Daytrip and co-producer Dot Da Genius. Late singer &

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

frontman Kurt Cobain is also credited as a writer due to the chorus containing an interpolation of the band's song "

In Bloom "In Bloom" is a song by American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain. It appears as the second track on the band's second album, ''Nevermind'', released by DGC Records in September 1991. The album version is the se ...

" from their album ''

Nevermind ''Nevermind'' is the second studio album by the American rock band Nirvana, released on September 24, 1991, by DGC Records. It was Nirvana's first release on a major label and the first to feature drummer Dave Grohl. Produced by Butch Vig, '' ...

.''

Mike Diva Mike Dahlquist (born June 23, 1987), better known as Mike Diva, is an American film director, special effects artist, musician and YouTuber. Career Based in Southern California, Diva began experimenting with video equipment at age 13. As a p ...

directed the "Panini" music video starring

Skai Jackson Skai Jackson (born April 8, 2002) is an American actress who was included in ''Time''s list of Most Influential Teens in 2016. She is best known for portraying the role of Zuri Ross in the Disney Channel sitcom '' Jessie'' (2011–2015), which ...

. 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 Jonathan Lyndale Kirk (born December 22, 1991), known professionally as DaBaby (formerly known as Baby Jesus), is an American rapper. After releasing several mixtapes between 2014 and 2018, he rose to mainstream prominence with his debut alb ...

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 "

", released on the 1991 album ''

'' by

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 Frances Bean Cobain (born August 18, 1992) is an American visual artist and model. She is the only child of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and Hole frontwoman Courtney Love. She controls the publicity rights to her father's name and image. ...

, for being able to interpolate "In Bloom". "Panini" is named after the fictional cabbit bear hybrid of the same name—a character from the animated television series ''

Chowder Chowder is a thick soup prepared with milk or cream, a roux, and seafood or vegetables. Oyster crackers or saltines may accompany chowders as a side item, and cracker pieces may be dropped atop the dish. New England clam chowder is typically ...

'' with the character herself being named after the Panini

sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

. It is composed in the key of F minor and employs

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note val ...

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 Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Critical reception

Beatriz da Costa of ''

Vibe ''Vibe'' is an American music and entertainment magazine founded by producers David Salzman and Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. After shutting down producti ...

'' 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 National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

'' 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

. It premiered on September 5, 2019. The video features her trying to outrun Lil Nas X and choreographed robots in a futuristic

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

setting. It makes use of several lights, holograms and advertisements; along with floating billboards and flying cars. '' Stereogum''s Tom Breihan compared the visuals to the 1982 film ''

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...

'', 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 A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character t ...

'' 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 "Old Town Road" is the debut single of American rapper Lil Nas X, first released independently in December 2018. After gaining popularity, the single was re-released by Columbia Records in March 2019. Lil Nas X also recorded a remix with America ...

' this summer". Writing for ''Vulture'', Zoe Haylock praised the video by stating that its art department and visual effects team deserve "an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

?".

Remix/Alternate music video

About a week after the "Panini" music video, the

remix of "Panini" with an animated unofficial video on Lil Nas X's

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

channel was released on September 13, 2019, with characters from the Cartoon Network animated series, ''

'' 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 Tumblr (stylized as tumblr; pronounced "tumbler") is an American microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and currently owned by Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a sho ...

blog.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

. *

– lead vocals, songwriting * Take a Daytrip – production, songwriting * Dot da Genius – co-production, songwriting * Kurt Cobain – songwriting * Thomas Cullison – assistant engineering * Denzel Baptiste – recording *

DJ Swivel Jordan Young (born 14 December 1984), known professionally as DJ Swivel, is a Canadian music producer, mixer, audio engineer, and DJ. He is a prominent audio engineer best known for working with Beyoncé as her personal recording engineer. He ...

– mixing * Colin Leonard – mastering *

– featured vocals, songwriting

Charts

Original version

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

* * {{DaBaby 2019 songs 2019 singles Columbia Records singles Lil Nas X songs Songs about fictional male characters Songs about fictional female characters Songs written by Kurt Cobain Songs written by Lil Nas X Chowder (TV series) DaBaby songs Animated music videos Songs written by Dot da Genius Song recordings produced by Take a Daytrip