"Turn Down for What" is a song by French DJ & record producer DJ Snake and American rapper & record producer Lil Jon released on December 18, 2013. The song and its viral music video popularized the use of the phrase. The song was particularly successful in North America, where it has earned eight platinum certifications in the United States. In late 2020, seven years after it was released, the video passed 1 billion views on YouTube.
Production and release
Lil Jon and DJ Snake met several years before recording the song. In an interview, DJ Snake said, Lil Jon said in an interview, In December 2013, Columbia Records debuted "Turn Down for What" on the label's website. It was released via iTunes shortly afterwards.
Composition
"Turn Down for What" contains the lyrics of Lil Jon rapping "Fire up that loud, another round of shots" and "Turn down for what" throughout the song. It also contains bass and trap music elements that are original to Atlanta, GA, Lil Jon's hometown. "Turn Down for What" is written in the E Phrygian mode and is set in common time at a moderate tempo of 100 beats per minute.
Chart performance
"Turn Down for What" entered the top 10 on Billboards Dance/Electronic chart during the last week of December. In January 2014, the single entered the top 5 on the Dance/Electronic chart and debuted at No. 38 on the Billboard Hot 100. It peaked at number 4 on the chart, becoming DJ Snake's first and Lil Jon's ninth top ten, and was certified gold in February 2014. It reached its first million copies sold in the U.S. in March 2014. The song reached its 3 million sales mark in July 2014. It became the seventh best-selling song of 2014 in the US with 3,449,000 copies sold for the year.
Critical response
"Turn Down for What" received generally positive reviews from music critics and publications. Rolling Stone voted "Turn Down For What" as the second best song of the year 2014, saying, "The year's nutsiest party jam was also the perfect protest banger for a generation fed up with everything. DJ Snake brings the synapse-rattling EDM and Southern trap music; Lil Jon brings the dragon-fire holler for a hilarious, glorious, glowstick-punk fuck you." In January 2015, "Turn Down for What" was ranked at No. 9, tied with Beyoncés "Flawless", on The Village Voices annual year-end Pazz & Jop critics' poll.
Music video
An accompanying music video for "Turn Down for What" was directed by the filmmaking duo Daniels, composed of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, and released on March 13, 2014. The clip stars co-director Daniel Kwan with Sunita Mani. He explained: "For a while Daniel and I had been wanting to explore male sexuality in a really weird way. For some reason our brains came up with this image, and this other universe where dudes are so pumped up on their own dicks—and they're so into their testosterone—that the way that they show that is by breaking shit with their dicks. So, whatever happens, that would just be a funny logical progression."
Jason Newman of Rolling Stone described the video as "perfect insanity" and added, "It's hard to pinpoint specifically what makes the video for DJ Snake and Lil Jon's 'Turn Down for What' so compelling and ripe for repeat viewings." Edwin Ortiz of Complex called it "incredibly absurd and awesome" and wrote, "The hard-hitting EDM record delivers an undeniable vibe that listeners can't help but mosh out to, and that's clearly evident in the accompanying music video." Writing for Idolator, Robbie Daw said the video "takes things to a whole new level of WTF-ness not quite seen before."
Remixes
On April 26, 2014, an official remix featuring Juicy J, 2 Chainz, and French Montana was released. A second official remix, the "Dancehall Remix", followed on April 28, 2014, featuring Chi Ching Ching, Assassin, and Konshens. A third remix was released on May 7, 2014, titled "Turn Down for What (Lil Jon Remix)", featuring Pitbull and Ludacris.
Awards
The music video won Video of The Year and Best Dance Video-International at UK Music Video Awards held in London. It also received 3 additional nominations.
The music video won "Best Direction" at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) held in Inglewood. It also received 3 additional nominations including MTV Clubland Award, Best Visual Effects and Best Art Direction.
The song was nominated for out of its genre for Choice Music: R&B/Hip-Hop Song at the 2014 Teen Choice Awards held in Los Angeles.
The song won a Billboard Music Award for Top Dance/Electronic Song at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards held in Vegas and the music video won the Clio Bronze in Film and Music at the 2015 Clio Awards.