| Hollywood | |
| Cover: | Car Seat Headrest - Hollywood.png |
| Border: | yes |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Car Seat Headrest |
| Album: | Making a Door Less Open |
| Recorded: |
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| Genre: | |
| Studio: | Avast Recording Co. (Seattle) |
| Label: | Matador |
| Producer: |
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| Chronology: | Car Seat Headrest singles |
| Prev Title: | Martin |
| Prev Year: | 2020 |
| Next Title: | There Must Be More Than Blood |
| Next Year: | 2020 |
"Hollywood" is a song by American indie rock band Car Seat Headrest. It was released on April 16, 2020, by Matador Records, as the third single from their twelfth studio album, Making a Door Less Open (2020). The song was written and produced by bandleader Will Toledo and drummer Andrew Katz.[2]
The song was described by Spin as Car Seat Headrest's "aim to make a big leap into alternative rock". The staff further described the song to feature "familiar heavy riffs", "a big hook" and "heavy grooves".[3] Toledo commented that the song was "about Hollywood as a place where people go to make their fantasies come to life, and they end up exploiting other people and doing terrible things to maintain their fantasy".[4] In Pitchforks review of the associated album, critic Ian Cohen described the lyrics as "Eephus pitch" and called it "something that destabilizes through counter-intuitive simplicity".[5]
Writing for Pitchfork, Ian Cohen compared the song as Toledo's "version of Weezer's 'Beverly Hills'" and described the concept as "catchy" and "banal".[5] Upon reviewing the associated album, Jon Blistein of Rolling Stone called the track as one of the most "divisive".[6] Writing for The Observer, Emily Mackay wrote that the song is "pleasingly punchy, but brought down by facile lyrics".[1]
In a less positive review, Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described the track as Making a Door Less Opens "dead thud". Petridis stated: "a conflation of guitar and raw-throated rapping in which the spirit of 1 Trait Danger seems rather too evident, self-consciously wacky shrieked vocals and all."[7]
The release of the track was accompanied by an animated music video. It was directed by Sabrina Nichols.[8] In the animated music video, Toledo appears as his alter ego, Trait, wearing a gas mask, as he takes a journey through Hollywood.[9] [10]
Credits adapted from Bandcamp.[11]