The Return That Felt Like a Reward

Sky Ferreira released Downhill Lullaby in early 2019, her first proper single in years—years during which her second album was perpetually almost-finished, perpetually about to arrive, perpetually not here. Some artists in that position lose their mystique to the wait. She didn’t. If anything the absence made Downhill Lullaby land harder: slow, cinematic, threaded through with unease, the kind of song that sounds like it’s narrating something happening just out of frame. Grant Singer directed the video and understood exactly what she needed—cool, slightly menacing, not trying too hard. I’d been listening to Night Time, My Time since 2013 and the patience was finally answered, not with a triumphant comeback record but with a single that sounded like it knew exactly what it was.