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Windows down

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«Windows Down» is a song by American boy band Big Time Rush from the re-release of their second studio album Elevate. The song was released on June 25, 2012, and was released to US radio on July 24, 2012.^[2] The song’s hook is sampled from «Song 2» by English rock band Blur.

«Windows Down» was made available for streaming exclusively via Cambio.com on June 11, 2012.^[3] The group revealed the album artwork on June 13.^[4] The song was officially released as a single on June 25, via iTunes.^[3] Kendall Schmidt believed that the track would «appeal to people of all ages,» while Carlos PenaVega hoped it «bring in some of the older demo.»^[5]

The song was written by Blackbear, Mike Posner, Alexander James, Damon Albarn, Dave Rowntree, Graham Coxon, Bei Maejor, and Matt Squire, with production handled by the latter two while additional by CJ Baran.^[6] It features samples from «Song 2» by Blur.^[7] American singer/songwriter Kesha originally created an early demo of the track, expected to appear on her second studio album Warrior with the title «Woo Hoo», still using the Blur sample, but later sold the instrumental to Big Time Rush, and the song was re-written to create «Windows Down».^[8]

Nick Bassett from UK site The Re-View called «Windows Down» a «surefire summer pop hit», complimenting the use of the «Song 2» sample and wrapping up his article saying that it should «mark Big Time Rush as some hot, home-grown competition for our Transatlantic invading boybands».^{[citation needed]}

«Windows Down» peaked at number 97 on Billboard Hot 100 and lasted one week on chart.^[9] The song also peaked at number 35 on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 and stayed on chart for three weeks.^[10]

The music video was filmed in Maui, Hawaii and was released on Vevo on June 22, three days before the single’s iTunes release.^[5] It was directed by Marc Klasfeld and was recorded over the course of five days.^[11][12] The video features the band doing various activities in Hawaii like surfing, paddle boarding, swimming in the ocean, and standing on top of Jeep Wranglers.^[13] Logan Henderson described the song as one that «embodies fun» and wanted to create a video to capture that.^[14]

• Digital download^[1]

1. «Windows Down» – 3:12

• EU CD single^[15]

1. «Windows Down» – 3:13
2. «Windows Down» (Instrumental) – 2:59

«Windows Down» is a song by Big Time Rush. It was written by Alexander James, Bei Maejor, Damon Albarn, Dave Rowntree, Graham Coxon, Matt Squire, Matthew Musto, and Mike Posner. An electo-rock and dance-pop song with dubstep influence, «Windows Down» takes a sample from the 1997 single «Song 2» by English rock band Blur.

Nickelodeon Records, in partnership with Columbia Records, released «Windows Down» as a standalone single in the United States on June 25, 2012. The song was commercially successful, peaking at #45 on Billboard’s Digital Song Sales.^[2] Originally planned to be incorporated into BTR’s third studio album, the song was instead included as the thirteenth track on a re-release of the band’s second album, Elevate.

A music video was shot primarily by the band while they were on vacation in Maui, Hawaii, during the last week of May 2012. It was digitally released on June 22, 2012, three days before the official single release.

Background

Nickelodeon and Columbia Records planned for Big Time Rush to release a «hit» single for the summer of 2012, which they planned to promote extensively in pursuit of radio and commercial success. In preparation, both labels approached the four members of Big Time Rush individually, and asked them each to write an «original» song.^[3] They would then select one of the four tracks to become the desired single.^[3]

Kendall Schmidt, James Maslow, Carlos PenaVega, and Logan Henderson each wrote a song with a team of their choosing, on time that was not accomodated for and paid by main labels Nickelodeon and Columbia.^[3] According to Big Time Rush actor and close friend of the band Stephen Kramer Glickman, it was apparent that the four musicians «really invested a lot of time» into each of their efforts, particularly Schmidt, who created a song titled «Midnight Somewhere» that received unanimous praise from his bandmates as well as from the cast and crew of the television show.^[3][4]

Sony ultimately rejected all four members’ songs, an action that Glickman has described as «mean», recalling that the situation lead to increased «difficulty» on set for Big Time Rush, with the band members more frequently «butting heads» with creator Scott Fellows and the showrunners, as well as their partners at Sony.^[3] Instead of the band’s works, Columbia Records purchased an instrumental sample from the English rock band Blur’s 1997 «wikipedia:Song 2» for $75,000.^[4] Enlisting producers Bei Maejor, Matt Squire, and CJ Baran, the instrumental track that incorporated the sample, which was originally envisioned for American singer and songwriter Kesha, was re-written into «Windows Down».

Lyrics and music

Big Time Rush’s «Windows Down» was written by Alexander James, Bei Maejor, Damon Albarn, Dave Rowntree, Graham Coxon, Matt Squire, Matthew «Blackbear» Musto, and Mike Posner. The instrumental track incorporates the «Woo-hoo!» sample from «Song 2» alongside its primary guitar riff, with new lyrics and music. The track takes influence from the electronic dance and dubstep genres, featuring a breakdown in the song’s bridge. Lyrically, the song’s verses speak in anticipation of a party, building up to the song’s high-energy hook «all the windows down, when I’m rolling through your town.»

The band has spoken highly of «Windows Down», calling it «an incredible song».^[5] The single has been performed on every tour setlist since its release, and was played as the opening song on the Summer Break Tour and Big Time Rush Live tours.

Promotion and release

Starting on June 1, to draw attention for the single’s release, the band started a daily countdown on Twitter with the hashtag #BTRwindowsdown along with the number of days left before June 25, 2012, when the single would be officially released on iTunes. The hashtags for the first two days, #BTRwindowsdown25 and #BTRwindowsdown24, both reached the #1 position on Twitter’s worldwide trending topics list.^{[citation needed]}

On June 11, the news outlet Cambio published an exclusive article that allowed fans to stream the entire song ahead of its digital release.^[6] The band performed «Windows Down» for the first time at the B96 Pepsi SummerBash in Chicago on June 16.

The official music video was released on June 22. Within 24 hours, the music video shot to #2 on the iTunes music video charts, second to Katy Perry’s «Wide Awake». Nintendo offered an enhanced three-dimensional video on their Nintendo 3DS platform, for which the band also promoted alongside the game Mario Kart 7.

Windows Down reached #62 (out of 200) on the «Top Pop Songs» chart of iTunes within 6 hours of its release. The song peaked at #17, making it the group’s biggest hit song on iTunes.

Critical reception

Reception to the song has been positive overall. Nick Bassett from UK site The Re-View called ‘Windows Down’ a «surefire Summer pop hit», complimenting the use of the Blur ‘Song 2’ sample and wrapping up his article saying that it should «mark Big Time Rush as some hot, home-grown competition for our Transatlantic invading boybands».

Bill Lamb of About.com called the song «a guilty pleasure» and praised the song’s use of rock, claiming that it provided «an appealing, more ‘grown up’ power pop sound for the group… [distinguishing them] from the wave of British boy bands hitting [North American] shores.»

Music video

A music video was released on June 22, 2012, three days prior to the single’s official digital release. The video was filmed in Maui, Hawaii between May 25–29, 2012,^[5][7][8] and depicts the band cliff jumping, paddleboarding, swimming near waterfalls, and driving around with their friends.^[5][9] Columbia Records hired Marc Klasfeld, who previously directed BTR’s «Music Sounds Better with U» music video and has also worked with artists such as Katy Perry, as the director for the video.^[5] Kendall said, «Carlos directed that video,» with creative input from all four members of the band. «This video was 100% our idea and 100% us.»

The video concept came from Big Time Rush themselves, who had recently vacationed together in Maui when Sony first starting laying out ideas for the band’s upcoming music video. The label envisioned ideas such as «a water balloon fight in an abandoned building», but the band was critical of them, as Kendall Schmidt said they felt their concepts «had nothing to do with the song at all.»^[10] In response, Carlos PenaVega came up with the idea to return to Hawaii and «film everything they just did.»^[10] Though doubtful that the label would greenlight the idea, PenaVega and James Maslow formally pitched a proposal, even setting a potential budget.^[10] After some hesitation, Sony’s administrators approved the idea, and the four band members were flown out from Los Angeles to Maui, along with director Marc Klasfeld, as PenaVega retroactively joked «they didn’t trust us with the money.»^[5][9]

Many of the shots and filming were handled by the four members of Big Time Rush. Kendall Schmidt has said that Klasfeld was flexible and encouraged them to try their ideas, such as Schmidt strapping a GoPro camera to the end of his paddleboard and filming himself riding waves. They made extensive use of GoPros as well as waterproof RED cameras in order to obtain underwater footage. When wrapping the production, the band described the video as «their best one yet,» proudly saying that the vision behind the music video was «all us.»

Credits and personnel

Lyrics

External links

• big-time-rushs-windows-down-lyrics-exclusive
• first-listen-hear-the-chorus-of-big-time-rushs-new-single-windows-down-exclusive-video
• windows-down-the-origin
• www.cambio.com/2012/06/11/windows-down-by-big-time-rush-exclusive-first-listen/

Gallery

References