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"Down" is a song by British singer Jay Sean featuring American rapper and labelmate Lil Wayne. The song was released in North America as his debut single from his first album there, All or Nothing. In other markets, including the United Kingdom, the song serves as Jay Sean's lead single from his third studio album. Produced by J-Remy and Bobby Bass, "Down" is the seventh-best selling single of 2009 and has been certified Platinum in several countries. The song went on to sell six million copies in the United States. The track was released to US radio on 31 May 2009 and digital retailers on 30 June 2009. "Down" hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the issue dated 17 October 2009, unseating "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas after their 14-week reign at number one. This made Jay Sean the first British act to score a Billboard Hot 100 number-one single since Coldplay's "Viva la Vida" in 2008, and the fourth British act overall in the 2000s decade. The song also made him "the first UK urban act ever to top Billboard's Hot 100", and the first British act to have reached number one in the United States and not in the United Kingdom with a song since Seal's "Kiss from a Rose" in 1995. It was also the best-selling single by a British and European male artist in North America since Elton John's "Candle in the Wind" in 1997, and the first by a British Asian artist since Freddie Mercury in 1980. History Development On 15 October 2008, at the MOBO Awards, Jay Sean announced that he had signed with the American hip hop record label Cash Money Records. He explained, "It's always been a dream for me to sign to an American label. And it's great to be accepted by the best in the game." It was rumoured that his first single in the US would be a remix of the single, "Tonight" featuring Lil Wayne. In fact, a remix had not been produced, but the song "Down" which originally began recording in December 2008. Jay Sean and Lil Wayne co-wrote the song with Jared Cotter, Jonathan Perkins, J-Remy, and Bobby Bass. It was also produced by J-Remy and Bobby Bass. The track was originally for My Own Way: Deluxe Edition without Lil Wayne, alongside "War". The CEO of Cash Money Ronald "Slim" Williams liked the track, played it to Wayne and wanted Wayne to be on the track; Wayne loved it and added a new verse on the track. Sean told MTV News that he recorded this song in 90 minutes, after which he received a call from Ronald "Slim" Williams. He recalled: "Slim called me up and was like, 'Yo, man, there's something wrong on the second verse that just doesn't sound right.' I was like, 'Really? What?' He played the song. All of a sudden I heard Wayne's Auto-Tune stuff, and I'm like, 'OK. What's going on? Right! That's Lil Wayne on my song right now!' That day was brilliant." "The news was on, everything was depressing and we were like 'look at this man – everything's so down in the dumps. Why don't we write a song to take everyone's mind away from being down?'" explains Sean about how the track came about during a late night recording session in Miami's Hit Factory studio. According to Sean, "Wayne heard it, fell in love and dropped a verse on it," which resulted in the up-tempo summer record peppered with Wayne's gritty pipes. After the release The BBC reported in 2009 that Jay Sean became "The Most Successful Male U.K. Urban artist in U.S chart history". "I want to do my best to represent the UK in America and let people really understand that it doesn't matter if we're from a little place called Hounslow. As long as you work hard and strive to do you best and make good music, and of course with a bit of luck, it is possible," Jay told the BBC. The success of "Down" has also led to Sean being considered the most successful European urban artist in North America. When the track topped the Billboard Hot 100, Jay Sean was on stage with labelmate Lil Wayne, on the first night of the US rapper's London concert tour. Before he returned to the US, Jay Sean was asked, "How does it feel to have the top song of the week?", and replied, "This is insane. It's just incredible to have reached number one with my first release in America. It's difficult for me to put into words. My head is spinning. I've been grinding hard for the last seven years releasing records independently and now to have the biggest record in the USA this week. It's just a dream come true." The second time the song hit number one, he was performing at "The Justin Timberlake and Friends Concert Benefiting Shriners Hospitals For Children" on 17 October 2009 with Justin Timberlake. Music video The music video for "Down" was produced alongside the video for "Written On Her". The "Down" video was first shot in London on 24 April 2009, with Cash Money crew without Lil Wayne. The video was shot over two days. The Buckinghamshire mansion featured is Hedsor House, an enormous private mansion and park where Mark Ronson hosted his 33rd birthday and where scenes for the feature film The Golden Compass were filmed. The video was completed in Miami, with Jay Sean heading to the US to finish the video with Lil Wayne on 20 May 2009. The video features Hispanic American model Korrina Rico as the lead lady, dancers, bright blue lights and bottles. The video was produced by Shurwin Beckford and directed by Richard Pengelley for Jayded Entertainment/Guerilla Hype/Hey Buddy and edited by Jamie Mac and Adam Wood. During the rap break, Lil Wayne is seen wearing a red T-shirt with the word 'COMMUNIST' in white capitalized letters. The prelude of his previous single "Ride It" can be heard in the music video as the introduction to this song. On 23 July 2009, the video premiered on Jay Sean's YouTube page; it was the number one most viewed music video on YouTube for its first two weeks and had over 5 million views as of 24 December 2009. During the week of 10 August 2009, the music video was featured as iTunes' Free Music Video of the Week. The video was added to MTV's rotation on 5 August 2009 include MTV Hits and MTV U.S.A. The video was also added to the Universal Music Group's channel where the video had more than 20 million views as of 23 November 2009. The video was added to the Island Records channel where his UK fans can see the video, which had around 5 million views as of 20 December 2009. The video was also added to the Jay Sean Vevo channel, where it has more than 300 million views as of November 2021. Chipmunk and Tinie Tempah make cameo appearances in the video. Reception Critical reception The song received generally favorable reviews. Ginger Clements from Billboard gave the song a positive review, stating that Jay Sean's "melodic vocals [...] resonate with impressive tonal clarity". Billboard gave the song a score of 91/100. Alex MacGregor of UK Mix gave the song 4 out of 5 stars, stating that it "is actually a creditable offering of world beating R&B-pop that reminds the listener of some of the better moments in Usher's bac.... Discover the Sean Wayne popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Sean Wayne books.