"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 A Lady A (formerly known as Lady Antebellum) is an American country music group formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2006. The group is composed of Hillary Scott (lead and background vocals), Charles Kelley (lead and background vocals, guitar), ...

ntebellum. 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 Gloucestershi ...

'', and it features lead vocals from Scott. The song was written by

Luke Laird Luke Robert Laird (born May 4, 1978 in Hartstown, Pennsylvania) is an American country music songwriter and producer. He has written over 20 number one ''Billboard'' singles, including Carrie Underwood's "So Small", "Temporary Home", and " Un ...

Shane McAnally Shane McAnally (born October 12, 1974) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and record producer. Originally a solo artist for Curb Records in 1999, McAnally charted three singles on Hot Country Songs, including the No. 31 " Are Y ...

, and

Natalie Hemby Natalie Nicole Hemby Wrucke (born March 24, 1977) is an American country music songwriter and singer. She has written songs for Lee Ann Womack, Eli Young Band, Toby Keith, Miranda Lambert, Sunny Sweeney, Little Big Town, Jon Pardi, Kacey Musgra ...

. It was originally planned to be sung by fellow country act

Miranda Lambert Miranda Leigh Lambert (born November 10, 1983) is an American country singer and guitarist. Born in Longview, Texas, she started out in early 2001 when she released her self-titled debut album independently. In 2003, she finished in third place o ...

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 Hillary Dawn Scott-Tyrrell (born April 1, 1986) is an American singer and songwriter. She is the co-lead singer of Lady A, previously known as Lady Antebellum, a country music group that was formed in 2006, and is signed to Big Machine Records ...

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 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 CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

'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 ''E! News'', previously known as ''E! News Daily'' and ''E! News Live'', is the infotainment, entertainment news operation for the cable network E! in the United States. Its former on-air weekday newscast debuted on September 1, 1991, and prima ...

'' 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 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'' Country Airplay 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 chart for the week of February 9, 2013. It also debuted at number 32 on the Canadian Hot 100 and number 45 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 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