Downhill Lullaby

"Downhill Lullaby" is a song by Sky Ferreira. It was released as a single on March 27th, 2019, and is currently expected to appear on her second studio album, Masochism.

Background
On March 13th, 2018, Ferreira posted snippets of "Downhill Lullaby", "Descending", and the song "Jump in the River" by Sinead O'Connor, to her Instagram stories.

On September 26th, Ferreira posted a video clip of her scrolling down the song's drum and string stems, and said she was "listening to each singular track" in order to make notes before properly arranging and finishing it.

On November 2nd, she took to Twitter to confirm she had "just finished" her upcoming single, while stating that it took "two continents, many layovers, eight months, twelve different pre-choruses, 25 different drum takes/variations, 1 string player & tears". She also confirmed that the track would have "two listening experiences".

Ferreira posted an image from the song's official single cover art shoot to her Instagram page on January 7th, 2019, and revealed its title in the caption. On February 9th, she began teasing a March release date, and on March 21st, she confirmed it would be released on the 27th.

In a 2022 interview with Vulture, Ferreira confirmed that she still plans to include "Downhill Lullaby" on Masochism, although she wants to use a different mix from the single version.

Theme
Ferreira spoke about "Downhill Lullaby" and the inspiration behind it in a 2019 interview with Pitchfork.

She likened the ordeal of making the track to Mickey Mouse's Fantasia turn as the sorcerer's apprentice.

Official versions

 * Single version – 5:34
 * Demo version – Unknown
 * Instagram snippet – 0:16

Critical reception
Upon its release, "Downhill Lullaby" received mainly favorable reviews from music critics. El Hunt of NME described the track as "the beginning of an ambitious new era", while Sasha Geffen of Vulture called it a "a slow burner awash in strings" and praised the "coarse low edge" of Ferreira's vocals.

Trivia

 * Ferreira had initially confirmed in July 2018 that "Don't Forget" would be released as the first single from Masochism, and implied that "Downhill Lullaby" would come second.
 * She ultimately decided to put out "Downhill Lullaby" first, as she was "already confident about all of the pop songs on [her] record" and wanted to start with "something different".
 * The song was influenced by George Antheil, Krzysztof Penderecki, Mica Levi and John Cale.