After a few weeks of teasing the track, Pharrell has joined forces with Travis Scott today for their highly anticipated new single “Down in Atlanta.” It’s expected to end up on the former’s upcoming album Phriends.
Rooted in a jaunty 6/8 time signature, “Down in Atlanta” isn’t quite the trap-like beat we’re used to hearing Scott spit over. But with its dash of funk in the bassline, Pharrell’s instrumental still provides a pretty fitting backdrop for the song’s themes of luxurious big-city living: “Need a Georgia peach/ Never run outta love/ Or run outta weed,” Scott murmurs. “Daddy drivin’ a tractor/ Like a hellcat or demon/ Hit two eighty-five, dashin’/ ‘Cause I’m lovin’ the speed.”
“Down in Atlanta” is certainly no, say, “SICKO MODE” or “Get Lucky,” but it’ll likely be a reliable companion in the coming weeks as the temperature drops and we begin yearning for some more temperate southern weather. Listen to Pharrell and Travis Scott on “Down in Atlanta” below.
Next April, Pharrell will stage his annual festival, Something in the Water. After going down in Washington, D.C. in 2022, the festival returns to Pharrell’s native Virginia Beach in 2023 (tickets are available here).