Down - Marian Hill (SONG REVIEW)

Down - Marian Hill
If you haven't heard it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWGD2Cr9StM

The charts have been...weird these past couple of years. Back in 2014 and early 2015 when I watched the charts, I had a solid idea of what was going to chart and what type of music we'd be getting. Nowadays, I have absolutely no fucking idea. Not only are there so much different shit the mainstream is now willing to listen to (it used to just be the sample genres like Pop, RnB, Rap & Country, now we get Trap, EDM, Wonky, damn near experimental sometimes too, who knows), but there's just so many factors to track now (Like fuck I'm gonna try and figure out how the fuck Panodra and Soundcloud stream points work). So while I do still like to keep track of iTunes & Spotify charts because I'm a nerd, 40% of new entries I have no fucking idea will be coming. Introduce Down by Marian Hill: A songwriting/producing duo with borderline no past work other than remixes to various shitty songs, and 2 mildly awkward jazz-esque EPs that generated no buzz at all (except for a top 40 hit on the Alternative chart, which is basically the chart equivalent of learning how to do a bounce pass in basketball when you're in the NBA). And with the release of a worthless wreck of a debut album, they now have launched themselves a top 30 hit from being included in an Apple commercial that was aired during the Superbowl. Joy. With all the above information giving me basically nothing, I was completely unbiased to hearing this. So, is Down the start of the rise of a new A-lister in the making, or just another OHW to throw away into the bicycle bin after it's given 20 weeks?



Definitely the latter, but that has nothing to do with the songs quality. In fact, I can't give this review without the blatant comparison to the other weird OHW from 2016: Gold by Kiiara, but we'll get to that later (yes Kiiara is a OHW, if she touches the top 20 again I will give up on Billboard's chart algorithm).

This production is some of the most boring shit I think I've ever heard. It's 1 sleep inducing piano line looped for eternity, this random ass clicking noise that shows up randomly that I mistakenly took as my computer breaking the first dozen times I heard it, and trap hi-hats added to the chorus/drop. Add a thick layer of bass and it'd be like a 14 year old with a shitty Soundcloud account remixing that dull music you hear in fancy restaurants. But enough about that, what really sells this song to me is the narrative. It's so deep and lush, detailing a relationship breaking at the seems, with so much agony and angst that pile drives this into an absolute classic for me. I't's so...nah I'm just fucking with you lol.

Look, I'm sure there's SOME sort of story here. From what I can tell, I think it's about this girl being dragged to a party, and then proceeded to be belittled for not going? It's kinda like Here by Alessia Cara if it was missing 93% of the content. But I don't care about any of that shit, because it doesn't matter. No one gave a fuck about this song lyrics, except for one of them: Down. That's all this song is to me, it's the word "down" repeated over and over and fucking over again until it hurts (which took about 3/4ths of a listen, fyi). And the chorus has a drop that is not only this singer stuttering the word "down", but it's PITCH SHIFTED as well! Lovely!

And here comes the comparisons to Gold, which was criticized for a hook that was absolute nonsense. And here's where me and most others veer paths: Gold is so much better than this. Now I like Gold a lot, but I'm not deaf ok, I hear it's problems. All of them. It's a trainwreck of a song. It's got a Youtube Poop drop, minimalist production that somehow still sounds broken as fuck, and a charisma-less performer that has a bigger ego than I do. But the difference between this and something like Down is that at least Gold TRIED to do something. The drop is nonsense sure, but that nonsense is at least explainable. It's in reality multiple words from the song spliced together to form a bar that is questionably incoherent at best. That's insane to me. Both insanely stupid, but insanely creative as well. Secondly, it's beat. The producers of Gold may not have a brain, but they have balls, don't deny it. Trying to carry all that shit with a bottle popping sound, a flat bass loop and drums that fade into nothing takes huge skill to pull off. They didn't come close of course, but they tried.

Down does nothing of the sorts. It's production isn't creative or interesting because there was no need for it to be, there's nothing it needs to carry with itself. The drop isn't creative at all either, don't give me that shit. It's just the fucking word "Down". If Katy Perry made this her comeback single you all would have lost your fucking minds, but because it's this random fuckin girl singing it who has an equally talentless voice you give it a pass? That makes no sense to me, I'm sorry.


In short: Down is fucking worthless. Minimalist in an extremely uninteresting way, a useless narrative, and a lyrical desert with those dumb as shit rolling tumbleweeds being the pitch shifted drop. It's overrated, it's damn near pandering, and most important of all: lazy. Pathetic effort Marian Hill. Here's a tip: If Apple picks you up again, try giving them an actual song next time.

0/5