Was Pharrell Williams touches will turn to gold with a high probability. This is shown not only by his own hits like “Happy”, but above all by the almost endless list of productions with which he has supplied the hip-hop and pop landscape since the 90s. Also with rap superstar Travis Scott Pharrell has already worked twice, now comes the hat trick: the two release their new single “Down in Atlanta” together.
A new song by Travis Scott is definitely an eye-catcher in 2022, but the rapper from Houston no longer has the flawless standing of back then. The great disaster at the Astroworld Festival 2021, in which ten people died and hundreds were injured, is celebrating its first anniversary these days and leaves a memorial in music history, just like the Love Parade 2010. The mass panic at the Astroworld Festival hit Travis Scott at the peak of his career and as a result, big partners like Nike ended their collaboration with the rapper.
Since then, Travis Scott has largely kept quiet and weathered the criticism, but now (at least from his point of view) the time seems ripe for a comeback. For this he is teaming up with none other than Pharrell Williams, who produced the new single “Down In Atlanta” for him. The beat is surprisingly unconventional, instead of the hypnotic trap sound that Travis so coined, Pharrell serves up obscure funk sounds. Travis Scott glides his Auto-Tune-soaked rasp voice over them, reminiscent of early fan-favorites like the psychedelic “90210”. Whether “Down In Atlanta” achieves a similar status is doubtful, but Travis Scott has to give credit for the fact that his first song hasn’t been a routine in over a year.
