Lil Nas X has returned to Twitter and joked that he was away on maternity leave.

Lil Nas X makes a return to social media

Lil Nas X makes a return to social media

The 22-year-old singer - whose real name is Montero Lamar Hill - has been away from his social media account for three months and the 'Old Town Road' hitmaker quipped he was thrilled to be back on the platform because he had "missed" himself.

In a tweet, he wrote: "Why are people surprised i’ve been away for so long? have y’all really never heard of maternity leave?

"i’m so happy i’m back on the internet. i missed me so much."

The Grammy Award-winning star - whose album 'Montero' received critical acclaim upon its release towards the end of last year - also shared selfies of his "random" hairstyles he has donned over the time he has been away.

He captioned the post: "all the random hairstyles i've had over the last 4 months", and went on to tease new music in a TikTok video.

He said: "Hey look, I know y'all all full of saying seeing me in a minute, but I've also got down different s*** lately for y'all. I'm gonna give y'all folks new music type s*** and let y'all folks sit on that. Some banging type s*** I've got going."

A few hours later, Nas also returned to Instagram, posting some images of his recent antics.

His return to social media comes after a bout of COVID-19 forced him to pull out of the Jingle Bell Ball in December 2021, with some of his last tweets seeming to make fun of the virus and some of his fellow musicians.

In a since deleted tweet, he wrote at the time: "COVID really sucks. Now that I'm sure I won't die from COVID I will now begin making mildly funny jokes about having it. I'm not sure whether I've had the Omarion or Alicia Keys variant of COVID but this has not been a fun journey."

Nas' maternity leave quipped referenced a video he shared of him giving birth to his long-awaited debut album, 'Montero', in September.

The surreal video featured him being rushed into hospital as his waters broke, before he delivered his new record with the help of two doctors. Thereafter, he was seen lovingly caressing a copy of 'Montero' as he sits in a hospital bed.

The pregnancy-themed promo had been teased on Nas' social media, with the music star seen sporting a faux baby bump leading up to the album's release.