Genre Electro house Label Parlophone | Length 3:11 | |
Released 3 February 2014
(See release history) Format CD single
digital download Writer(s) David Guetta
Giorgio Tuinfort
Sonny Bono | ||
"Shot Me Down" is a song by French house music producer and disc jockey (DJ) David Guetta, featuring vocals from American singer Skylar Grey. The song was released on 3 February 2014 as a digital download. It was produced by David Guetta and Giorgio Tuinfort, with additional production from Ralph Wegner. The song has peaked at number six on the French Singles Chart, while also peaking within the top ten of the charts in Belgium, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Hungary and Australia and the top twenty of the charts in Germany, Spain and Italy. The original version of the song, "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)", was released by Cher in 1966 and was famously covered by Nancy Sinatra in the same year.
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Critical reception
DJ Times described the song as "A clear departure from Guetta’s pop anthems of the past few years" and compared "the electro frenzy of percussion-laden drops and grinding pops" to Martin Garrix's song "Animals". Mike Wass of Idolator wrote: "The track closely follows Avicii's 'Wake Me Up' formula of blending raw acoustic moments — courtesy of Skylar Grey's husky vocal — with bone-rattling beats and the radio version simply trims away some of the instrumental." Robert Copsey of Digital Spy gave the song a mixed review stating:
"Even before listening to David Guetta's new single, it's difficult not to think, is this really necessary? And if you feel like you've already heard it before actually hearing it, it's because essentially you have; the Cher/Nancy Sinatra classic has not only been covered to death already, but a dance version created by production duo Audio Bullys in 2005 remains perfectly serviceable today. So why is he bothering? Surprisingly, the song's infamous chorus remains largely similar to the original here, even with Skylar Grey's vocal, which bears a haunting resemblance to Sinatra's. It's a shame then that it's been sandwiched between sections of menacing beats, strobing EDM and grinding bass. In separation they both sound like promising songs, but together, the result feels lazy and disjointed."
Music video
The official video, which is a lyric video made into a comic-book-style animation, is set in the wild west, and starts off with a lone cowgirl wandering the desert. The cowgirl comes across a town and engages in a shootout with another cowboy, winning the battle. She fears that she'll be captured so she rides away on her horse. She comes across more enemy cowboys and tries to fight them, but she is captured by the Sheriff and thrown into jail. She sits in her jail cell for a while, feeling defeated, but eventually uses her pistol to break through the cell wall and escape. After escaping, the Sheriff and the cowgirl engage in a shootout, the girl winning the fight and fleeing the town on her horse. In the end, she and a mysterious cowboy in black clothing face off with each other, both drawing their guns at the same time, but the cowgirl gets shot in the heart first, falling to the ground and dying.