"Down in Atlanta" is a song produced by Pharrell Williams with vocals by American rapper Travis Scott. Written by the two, it was released as a single through Columbia Records on November 18, 2022. It also serves as Scott's first official release as a lead artist in a little over a year, following the release of the late 2021 singles "Escape Plan" and "Mafia", although he had been featured on a few songs in 2022.[1] Both artists have collaborated before when Williams contributed production to Scott's 2015 song, "Flying High", and provided guest vocals on his 2018 song, "Skeletons".[2]
Background and promotion
In late August 2022, Williams and Scott were spotted together in a recording studio.[3] The song was first teased a few weeks later and then kept on being teased, and Scott also performed a portion of it live at his "Road to Utopia" residency in Las Vegas.[4] On October 31, 2022, Williams announced that the song would be released four days later, which was however delayed by two weeks for unknown reasons.[5]
Composition and lyrics
Over funk-led production from Williams, Scott sings: "I told shawty to bring the wave / You know life's a beach / She said, 'Life's a bitch' / Let’s hit Magic City".[6] The "spooky production" includes "sly, retro synths", Scott name-drops celebrities from the city of Atlanta in the state of Georgia, while he also boasts about the expensive cars he owns.[7] Jason Lipshutz of Billboard felt that Scott "mixes zonked-out warbling with tales of luxury and fills each line with his larger-than-life persona – while the multi-hyphenate focuses on making each drum-and-synth interaction tingle the listener's senses".[8]
