And it’s absolutely unmistakable.
With Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ excellent score for Watchmen still going, I started listening to some of their previous work and found Ghosts I-IV, which is under the NIN name. This was really their first big showcase for their extraordinary composing for movies and television. Ghosts is an hour and a half of great instrumentals the whole way top to bottom, but when this song came on I automatically started bobbing my head and quickly recognized what I was hearing: Old Town Road. Lil Nas X sampled it for his massive hit. Just a few days after discovering this, I saw Trent Reznor won a Country Music Award for his writing credit on the sample. What a world.
I’d encourage you to go listen to the whole album, but unfortunately, just days after discovering it, it’s gone from Spotify. Ghosted. Hopefully it’s back up soon. In the meantime check out the Watchmen soundtrack (thus far) and the show if you haven’t yet. It’s probably the best show of the year.