The Singles Jukebox

…tree up?

[Video][Website]
[5.50]

Patrick St. Michel: All too often, bringing up phones in a song today leads to either some sort of gloopy observation about how obsessed we are with our Androids or just an embarrassing attempt to be with it. Badu pushes the phone to the side, not trying to say anything about technology or communication but rather accepting its place in everyday life and, well, focusing on topics to get someone to put the device down. The song itself doesn’t go anywhere particularly interesting with this idea, but the chilly minimalism works well and this approaches phones better than most. 
[6]

Brad Shoup: An OK hook made obsessive, like a drunk thought you hang onto for your near-term sanity. I can practically see the streetlights reflecting off the dark tint, but I can’t see anyone else in that limo.
[3]

Jonathan Bradley: It would be so easy — it would make so much sense — to imbue “Phone Down” with uncertainty: to draw out tension and emotion by hinting that maybe the singer isn’t as distracting as she hopes. Badu eschews this approach entirely: she knows what power she has, and, repeating herself over and over, is insistent in her assertion of it. The icy trickle of melody — beyond the hard-edged beat, there’s little more to the song — builds the intimacy, and Badu edges towards seduction, “I’ll cut mine off, too.” A wrinkle: there’s no sign she intends to follow through on any of her promises. It’s an ingénue’s ploy, but someone this sure of what she wants has no interest in playing the ingénue. But she could.
[8]

Micha Cavaseno: Erykah Badu trolls the world by emulating how utterly shit the post-Drake style of songwriting is and still managing to do really well with it, based off being iconic and because we’ve settled for far less.
[1]

Alfred Soto: This trifle of a mixtape boasted an agreeable Todd Rundgren reimagining and a major Drake rethinking. “Phone Down” benefits from an emphatic Badu: she’s compelling when issuing commands.
[7]

Cassy Gress: I’m bopping my head, I’m grinning at “I can makey I can makey I can makey putcher phone down.” Why do I like this so much when I didn’t like Rihanna’s “Work”? Erykah’s singing this completely straight-faced, and is not really saying anything funny, but something about the cadence of this reminds me of a joke, I think the way that she comes back to “put your phone down” immediately no matter what else she says. Add in the synth that sounds like spooky ghosts, and it’s all coming together and working somehow.
[8]