"Turn Down for What" is a song by French DJ and record producer DJ Snake and American rapper Lil Jon. It was released on 18 December 2013 as DJ Snake's debut single. The song and its "viral" music video popularized the use of the phrase.[2][3] The song was particularly successful in North America, where it has earned eight platinum certifications in the United States. In late 2020, seven years after it was released, the video passed 1 billion views on YouTube.[4]
Production and release
Lil Jon and DJ Snake met several years before recording the song.[5] In an interview, DJ Snake said,
When I hit up the big homie Jon and asked him if he wanted to be on the track, this song is a pretty balling song. He heard the beat and was instantly down with the vision. What he sent me back, though, absolutely blew my mind. I knew Jon was one of the best, but he absolutely killed it on this joint.[6]
Lil Jon said in an interview,
DJ Snake sent me the track with a sample and he wanted me to redo it with my voice. When I heard the song I was like this beat is too crazy for that sample. I wanted to make it hip and current, and the first thing that came to mind was the phrase 'Turn Down for What!'[6]
In December 2013, Columbia Records debuted "Turn Down for What" on the label's website. It was released via iTunes shortly afterwards.[7]
Composition
"Turn Down for What" contains the lyrics of Lil Jon rapping "Fire up that loud, another round of shots" and "Turn down for what" throughout the song. It also contains bass and trap music elements that are original to Atlanta, GA, Lil Jon's hometown. "Turn Down for What" is written in the E Phrygian mode and is set in common time at a moderate tempo of 100 beats per minute.
Chart performance
"Turn Down for What" entered the top 10 on Billboard's Dance/Electronic chart during the last week of December.[8] In January 2014, the single entered the top 5 on the Dance/Electronic chart and debuted at No. 38 on the Billboard Hot 100.[9] It peaked at number 4 on the chart, becoming DJ Snake's first and Lil Jon's ninth top ten, and was certified gold in February 2014.[10][11] It reached its first million copies sold in the U.S. in March 2014.[12] The song reached its 3 million sales mark in July 2014.[13] It became the seventh best-selling song of 2014 in the US with 3,449,000 copies sold for the year.[14]
Critical response
"Turn Down for What" received generally positive reviews from music critics and publications. Rolling Stone voted "Turn Down for What" as the second best song of the year 2014, saying, "The year's nutsiest party jam was also the perfect protest banger for a generation fed up with everything. DJ Snake brings the synapse-rattling EDM and Southern trap music; Lil Jon brings the dragon-fire holler for a hilarious, glorious, glowstick-punk fuck you."[15]The Guardian music editor Ben Beaumont-Thomas called the song "magnificently shallow" and described it as "three choruses enjambed with energy-ramping bridges, using Lil Jon’s yelling as cement."[16]
Jon Caramanica of The New York Times named "Turn Down for What" as an example of rappers "with real tension and grit in their voices" pivoting to dance music rather than hip-hop. Caramanica described "Turn Down for What" as a "hyperkinetic banger" but "not the sort of song [Lil Jon] could have made on his own".[18]
In December 2014, a seven-critic panel for Billboard had five with positive feedback, for instance "the perfect club banger" from Myles Tanzer. Of the two with negative feedback, Caitlin White described the song as "clichéd debauchery", and Jillian Mapes called it "totally one-note – almost a novelty song".[19]
An accompanying music video for "Turn Down for What" was directed by the filmmaking duo Daniels,[20] composed of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, and released on 13 March 2014. The clip stars co-director Daniel Kwan with Sunita Mani. He explained: "For a while Daniel and I had been wanting to explore male sexuality in a really weird way. For some reason our brains came up with this image, and this other universe where dudes are so pumped up on their own dicks—and they're so into their testosterone—that the way that they show that is by breaking shit with their dicks. So, whatever happens, that would just be a funny logical progression."[20]
Jason Newman of Rolling Stone described the video as "perfect insanity" and added, "It's hard to pinpoint specifically what makes the video for DJ Snake and Lil Jon's 'Turn Down for What' so compelling and ripe for repeat viewings."[21] Edwin Ortiz of Complex called it "incredibly absurd and awesome" and wrote, "The hard-hitting EDM record delivers an undeniable vibe that listeners can't help but mosh out to, and that's clearly evident in the accompanying music video."[22] Writing for Idolator, Robbie Daw said the video "takes things to a whole new level of WTF-ness not quite seen before."[23]
Remixes
On 26 April 2014, an official remix featuring Juicy J, 2 Chainz, and French Montana was released. A second official remix, the "Dancehall Remix", followed on 28 April 2014, featuring Chi Ching Ching, Assassin, and Konshens. A third remix was released on 7 May 2014, titled "Turn Down for What (Lil Jon Remix)", featuring Pitbull and Ludacris.[24][25][26]
The music video won Best Direction at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) held in Inglewood. It also received 3 additional nominations for MTV Clubland Award, Best Visual Effects and Best Art Direction.[28]
The music video was nominated at the 2015 Grammy's for Best Music Video held in Los Angeles.[29]
The song was nominated for Choice Music: R&B/Hip-Hop Song at the 2014 Teen Choice Awards held in Los Angeles.[30]
In October 2014, Lil Jon and various other celebrities appeared in an online video that featured a remix of the song, renamed to "Turn Out for What", that was organized by Rock the Vote and intended to encourage young people to vote in the upcoming elections.[36] Also that month, Michelle Obama posted a video clip of herself dancing to "Turn Down for What" while holding a turnip[37] as a Vine response to US comedian and impressionist Iman Crosson's post hashtagged #AskTheFirstLady.[38] In Alphacat's original post Michelle Obama was asked, "On average how many calories do you burn every time you 'turn up'?!" Her response was "Turnip for what?" The Vine was posted as part of a Q&A organized by the First Lady's office to promote her Let's Move! healthy lifestyle campaign.[39]
In December 2014, a portion of the song was used in an AT&T Wireless commercial announcing the "completion" of their network export's goal of providing improved LTE connectivity.[40]
In April 2017, the song was featured in a Saturday Night Live commercial parody called "Turtle Shirt".[41]
In November 2017, "Turn Down for What?" was the title of a research paper in the American Journal of Transplantation written by Mary Grace Bowring, Dorry Segev and colleagues, about the decision to turn down offers of certain deceased donor kidneys for transplantation.[42]
In January 2018, figure skater Jimmy Ma started using the song in his routine.[43]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. † Streaming-only figures based on certification alone.
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 26. týden 2014 in the date selector. Retrieved July 3, 2014.
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: insert 201424 into search.
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Singles Digital Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select SINGLES DIGITAL - TOP 100 and insert 201430 into search. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
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