"Downtown" is a song recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

group Lady Antebellum. It was released on January 22, 2013, as the first single from their fifth studio album ''

Golden Golden means made of, or relating to gold. Golden may also refer to: Places United Kingdom *Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall *Golden Cap, Dorset *Golden Square, Soho, London *Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucestershir ...

'', and it features lead vocals from Scott. The song was written by Luke Laird, Shane McAnally, and Natalie Hemby. It was originally planned to be sung by fellow country act Miranda Lambert.

Critical reception

Billy Dukes of ''Taste of Country'' gave the song four and a half stars out of five, writing that "a guitar lick postmarked 1962 steers the song and pushes the band in an exciting new direction" and " Hillary Scott never sounded like she’s had more fun in the studio than on this song." Matt Bjorke of ''Roughstock'' gave the song four stars out of five, calling it "a burst of sunshine mixed in an ear worm of a melody that has audible steel guitars in the mix and features a nice twangy guitar solo balanced with some steel guitars."

Music video

The music video was directed by

Peter Zavadil Peter Zavadil is an American music video director who works primarily in the field of country music. He has directed many music videos since the late 1990s. He has won the Country Music Association Award for Video of the Year twice from seven nomin ...

and co-stars

Beth Behrs Elizabeth Ann Behrs (born December 26, 1985) is an American actress known for her starring role as Caroline Channing in the CBS comedy series ''2 Broke Girls''. The show ran for six seasons and earned Behrs praise and nominations for the Teen an ...

from CBS's ''

2 Broke Girls ''2 Broke Girls'' (stylized ''2 Broke Girl$'') is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS from September 19, 2011, to April 17, 2017. The series was produced for Warner Bros. Television and created by Michael Patrick King and Whitney Cumm ...

''. It premiered on '' E! News'' on March 6, 2013.

Synopsis

The video begins with Charles and Dave talking about what they did the night before. Feeling left out Hillary wants them to take her out on the town later that night but they disagree saying she is too much of a

goody two-shoes ''The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes'' is a children's story published by John Newbery in London in 1765. The story popularized the phrase " goody two-shoes" as a descriptor for an excessively virtuous person or do-gooder. Plot ''Goody Two ...

who would rather watch

romantic comedies Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

. In order to prove that she can have fun like the guys, Hillary calls Beth Behrs to see if she wants to go out on the town and "get so crazy they get arrested". Beth assures her that when they hang out together they can. Hillary and Beth head downtown in an attempt to get arrested; such as shoplifting and pouring coffee and donuts on two police officers, Garcia and Cash, played by Dave and Charles. They taunt the police officers but keep on getting ignored because they are distracted watching internet cat videos. As a last ditch effort to get their attention Hillary takes a stool and slams it into the police car's front window shield. The video ends with the girls in hand cuffs and being led into the car. In addition there are performance scenes of the band.

Chart performance

"Downtown" debuted at number 25 on the U.S. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since January 20, 1990. This chart lists the 60 most-listened-to records played on 150 mainstream country radio stations across the country as monitored ...

chart for the week of February 9, 2013, making it the highest chart debut of their career to date. It also debuted at number 42 on the U.S. ''Billboard''

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart for the week of February 9, 2013. It also debuted at number 32 on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record chart in Canada; a n ...

and number 45 on the U.S. ''Billboard''

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

chart for the week of February 23, 2013. It also debuted at number 96 on the South Korea GAON chart for the week of April 21, 2013.

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{authority control 2013 singles Lady A songs Capitol Records Nashville singles Songs written by Luke Laird Songs written by Shane McAnally Song recordings produced by Paul Worley Music videos directed by Peter Zavadil Songs written by Natalie Hemby 2013 songs