Book Thoughts: (Song Edition) Don't Look Down by Tom MacDonald

Hey everyone, welcome back to another review.  We will be looking at another song, of course again by the one and only Tom MacDonald.  Don't Look Down is Tom's newest song, the video of which came out about a week and a half ago.  Watch the music video before getting into my thoughts and opinions, as it truly gives all of Tom's songs an added level of amazingness.  Buckle up kids, this is a 7 1/2 minute song/video.

Don't Look Down Music Video

Have you taken the 7 1/2 minutes to watch the music video yet?  Yes?  Good, now we can get started.  Let's take a look at each part of the song.  A lot of people (and by people I mean haters) don't like the song because they are saying that it is a song just about Tom's ego and that he's doing nothing praising himself, and about how great he is.  I don't believe that's what is going on with this song.  While, yes, I do think that Tom is flexing I don't think it's because he's got a big head.  I think that it's because he's finally gotten to where he has always dreamed of being and has done it all by himself (aside from his girlfriend Nova) and with all the haters screaming he's trash he wants to show them that's he's not, by showing them what he now has.

I can't hide my frown, my smile is hiding from my mouth

I can't lie, my mind keeps finding time to fight myself

I dive so deep inside, feel like I died and I'm in hell

Or I'm so high, my eyes can't see the ground beneath the clouds

Don't look down (Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down)

Don't look down (Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down)

I tried to keep it quiet, silence all my cries for help

As long as I am rising 'til I'm upside down, I won't look down

This particular song doesn't necessarily have a chorus, but it there were one I think this would be it.  As it is in the song a second time.  For those who know about Tom MacDonald's past know that he has, and still does, battle with mental illness.  This subject is something that Tom doesn't shy away from in many of his songs (which we will get to in the future). 

In this section I think this is partly what we are seeing.  His, "smile is hiding from (his) mouth." And he says his mind is fighting himself, and he silences his cries for help.  Even know with his videos getting millions of views, charting on the Billboard charts, and selling 10's of thousands of physical CD's when he drops them he still admits that he struggles.  This is because mental illness is not something that simply goes away just because you finally have money (your dream job, and whatever it is you are searching for).  The don't look down line sounds to me like he is saying to the him that has gotten to where he wants to be can't look back(down) at where he was before.

This a meteoric rise

Keep ignoring all the horror stories like

So-and-so, got way too famous

And ended up killing himself with some pills and a knife,

I am not the one who's gonna self-destruct

Got it out the mud

I came way too far to fail and screw it up

I ain't droppin' balls, I just blew 'em up,

I will never let my mental illness be the cause of my downfall

I will never lie to none of my fans, if I did, it would sound wrong

I will never try convincin' you dummies, this isn't a town hall

In this section what I see is him talking about the things that he has overcome.  As well as fighting with mental illness Tom has also struggled with addiction.  He says that he has heard "horror" stories of other rappers who got famous and where unable to handle everything that came with the notoriety.  He isn't going to let that fame get to him through the mental illness, that he brings up in this section, as he says it won't be his downfall.  All of his songs, including this one, are honest and at times brutally so.  He says that he won't lie to his fans, and what we see is a truth, and honesty, that most musicians are usually hiding.

My favorite line in this section is the last one. "I will never try convincin' you dummies this isn't a town hall."  A town hall is described as where constituents in a local, or national, setting can get together and discuss specific topics upcoming in legislature or to debate issues they have.  So, when the haters, and trolls, are flooding the comments sections of his socials or his videos and telling him how terrible he is and how he needs to stop doing this and change that...blah blah blah.  So, here he is basically saying is that who I am, and what I do and stand for, isn't up for debate...So, shut the hell up. 

Never look down, never look down, just look around, y'all

Ayy, all of my demons are here

All I can feel is fear

All I can do is keep bein' myself

And that's what I been doin' for 32 years

All of my haters came out, chasin' my name for some clout

What are they angry about?

They're climbing as high as their ladders can take 'em

And screamin' my name, but I don't look down

Here he says that all he can do his be himself, and that's what he has been doing his entire life.  Now that he has gained a following, a platform, and fame there are other smaller rappers, and YouTube reaction channels that use his name to get "clout", or views.  For some of them it feels like maybe they are only screaming the hate because it gets them noticed.  As Tom says, "What are they angry about?"

Hi, guys, remember me? I'm the white guy

Everybody wanted to cancel, nice try

Too sick, I might die right

Two fists full of middle fingers, I got no time for high fives

Too rich for a drive-by

Pay the pilot on my private jet to keep it low and do a fly-by

Take nine knives on a bike ride

Why nine? 'Cause I heard that a pussy has nine lives

Tom is a bit of a troll himself, and I'm all for it because he is completely trolling all of his haters who troll him first. That's what I'm seeing here in the above lines.  First he's laughing at all of the people who tried to cancel the white rapper, "nice try."  The next line feels like he's calling out the people who smile to his face than hate him behind their screens.  He's too busy flipping them off to give high fives to his fake friends.  

I'm the one that y'all hated

I'm the one who won the game, got paid and famous

I'm the one who laughed in all they faces

And became the greatest since old Slim Shady

I'm the one who don't care, I'm the one who goes where

No one goes 'cause they're scared

I'm the one who don't choke when the boat don't float

My throat gets no air

I can barely breathe all the air I need

Oxygen is very thin at the top

I can rarely sleep, stars I'm underneath

Shining too bright, and I can't turn 'em off

I'm high as the birds now

Flying too close to the sun, got a burn, wow

This section also feels like flexing, even when he is just talking about how he got where he is, and what he's willing to do and give up (even metaphorically) to get and stay there.  As he stats all the things that he is, and has achieved, it implies that these are the things that his haters have not done.  He's gotten "paid and famous" while laughing at all the haters.  The line I like most here is when he says "I'm the one who goes where no one goes 'cause they're scared."  That's one of the things that draws me to Tom's music, the fact that he's not afraid to write songs about the topics that the majority of people are afraid will get them cancelled.  Because you can't get cancelled if you don't care.

               I been turnin' up, and I ain't turnin' down

Maybe I should chill, but I ain't learnin' how

Ayy, I'm not afraid of success

I'm afraid of what happens if I take a rest

I'm afraid that I'll end up where I was before

In the hood, with no money or food for the rent

I'm scared if I look at the water, I'll drown

So I look at the sky and deny there's a ground

I'm not scared of the altitude up in the clouds

I'm scared of the fall, so I don't look down

Here we see some of what motivates Tom to the non-stop grinding that he puts into his music.  If you keep track of his socials, and the videos he puts out, your hard pressed to find him going more than a few days (week at most) were he's not working on something.  A new song, new video, album, new clothing line (which he and his girlfriend designed themselves).  Never stops, and I feel like this is what he is talking about here.  He doesn't stop because if he does it may lead to going back to where he came from.  And that is the last place that he wants to go back to.

Fuck you, every single mother fuckin' one of you

I can't even see you because I don't look down (Don't look down)

Hahahahaha (Don't look down, don't look down)

Yeah (Don't look down)

A lot of people who hear these lines think that he is telling anyone listening to him to a "F-You", and that's just not true.  People just want something to criticize, and find anything to complain about.  But I guess to be fair he is saying fuck you to all the people bitching and complaining.  For that's who it is for, the internet trolls.  

I can't hide my tears, I dry my eyes and more come out

I can't lie, my fear is suicide, not bank accounts

Keep my chin up, but my head weighs, like, a million pounds

Feels like my neck might break, I hear it crack, ignore the sound

Don't look down (Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down)

Don't look down (Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down)

I tried to keep it quiet, silence all my cries for help

As long as I am rising 'til I'm upside down, I won't look down

This a legendary climb

Stand on the edge of the ledge and it's very high

Think of the men who are dead

'Cause it got to their head at a cemetery time

I ain't the one who gon' throw it away

'Cause I'm feelin' too lonely up here

I ain't the guy who gon' break from the pressure

It's snowy, my pipes are not frozen up here

There are two parts to this section.  The first is where we see the dark thoughts that Tom lives with.  As I've mentioned previously Tom has never shied away  talking about his mental illness, and fight with suicide, which we see at the beginning of this set of lyrics.  You can almost feel the weight of what he's feeling in those first few lines.  The weight of the world presses down on you until you break, but you can't let it.  You have to keep fighting.  

The second part is Tom telling you that you do have to keep fighting.  He says that there have been others before him that got to the top and let it drag them down, and killed them.  But he says that he's not going to throw it away because it's hard.  He says, "I ain't the guy who gon' break from the pressure."

I don't wanna hear about these YouTube rappers

I am not in that bracket, punk

Billboard plaques all stacked in my mansion

A million cash for my taxes, punk

Call me trash while I produce anthems

Y'all attackin' with plastic guns

I'm the biggest independent rapper in the fuckin' world

You just live on my planet, punk

Got an acid tongue and massive lungs

Every single track I've done has packed a punch

Used to be an addict, yup, I crashed a truck in Canada

Goin' too fast, blackout, drunk

I was nice at the start, but the mood all changed

The reactors who trash me for views are lame

Don't ask me to help you remove no claims

If I see you punks, you gon' lose your chains

Here we see Tom calling out all the crap that he is being told in the comment sections of his socials.  He constantly gets called a YouTube rapper.  Now, while he does post his videos on YouTube, and that it's an enormous part of how he gets his music out, he isn't actually what is defined as a YouTube rapper.  Which is defined as a YouTube creator who creates content as well as music.  And that is something Tom doesn't do, e just does music.  That's not to say that there's anything wrong with that, if that's what works for them than they go for it.  Tom just doesn't want to be labeled that now that he's at the top of his mountain.

I am the one who they all called a liar

When I told 'em that I'd help my mom retire

They thought that I'd buy a new crib and a chain

And a ring, and a whip, and some rims for the tires

Guess what? Mom don't work

Sent a 100 grand in a LV purse

Made the album with Nova and Brandon

They own half the masters, I told 'em the fam comes first

Anyone who knows Tom's music knows that he doesn't usually talk about money, and the things that he has, unless it's in a negative light.  But here we do see him talking him money, and boy did the haters go crazy.  More talk from the trolls saying his ego is making him talk about all of the money he has.  Ummm?  Are we hearing the same song?  That's clearly not what I'm seeing.  He's saying that everyone, talking about him, said that he would get famous and buy himself all the stuff that he sings against.  But that's not what he says.  He says that he literally used the money he made to retire his mother.  He sent her money and a Louis Vuitton purse.  Doesn't sound like someone bragging about all of the money and expensive things he's bought.  But what do I know?

Still got the pills that the doctor gave me

To combat the depression and the panic attacks

I'm the type of person who won't even take a Tylenol

Even when I got a dozen knives in my back

They're callin' me wack, but I don't react

I don't have time to write raps, replyin' to trash

I'll meet a whole team, yeah, they're tryin' to cap

I'm concrete, but my demons hide in the cracks

Here is more of Tom's philosophy when it comes to the hating trolls.  They don't matter, and you shouldn't waste your time reacting to them.  "I don't have time to write raps, replyin' to trash."  If he were to take the time it would require to reply to everyone slinging hate around he would never get anything accomplished.  And at the rate that he gets music, and videos out, he clearly doesn't waste that time.  He uses it to fuel his music.  Such in songs like this one and "I'm Corny", another amazing song and video. 

I'm the one, I ain't bought liquor for months

And you're lucky I'm sober, I'm nuts when I'm drunk

Mix the whiskey with soda, the man I'd become

Would invite you all over, put drugs in your punch

When you pass out, I'll wrap you in plastic

And hit you with hammers and flatten your skull 'til it's crushed

I don't name names, I don't play games

I just aim, spray and throw out the gun

The rappers who hate act like family now

They're tryna jack my style like some hand-me-downs

They want a million views, I want a Grammy now

And the closest they'll come is they grammy's house

I don't even drink, but I'm plannin' how

I can make a brewery in a massive house

To give free booze out to these rappin' clowns

And they could die usin' that to wash Xannies down

I'm the most successful guy to hold a pencil

I've been great for so long, I'm bored of flexin'

I became a machine made of iron, check inside

Peel the skin off and let the metal shine

I've been the greatest for so fuckin' long

It feels normal for me to be special

So much clout, I could buy back the souls of these rappers

That sold 'em for cash to the devil

This part of the song is really just one big metaphorical take on what Tom will do to the haters if they don't stop trolling and hating.  He's going to use his music to destroy them.  That who part with the hammer is disgusting, in like the best way possible.    

Why is everybody always talkin' shit? Criticizin' how I'm doin' it my way?

If I'm so trash, why don't y'all release your videos on a Friday?

'Cause that's my day, comparing our numbers, you'd cook like some fried eggs

Pussy like wide legs, you only get views if you say my name

Angry I'm famous and not a great rapper, and you been workin' stupid hard

I don't have to rap fast to impress all my fans, I am a superstar, hahahahaha!

Here is one of my favorite lines from this song.  "If I'm so trash, why don't y'all release your videos on a Friday?  Cause that's my day."  It is the epitome of a flex, telling the haters that they're afraid to release their music on the same day as Tom because the know that he's video will get more views than them.  It's also so true.  Tom MacDonald Friday will always be when he drops music videos.  Doesn't matter what else is coming out.  He dropped his "Best Rapper Ever" music video the same day Eminem dropped an album.  That doesn't stop Tom.

Man, I'm built for this, I'd kill for this

Never get back for the blood that I spilled for this

I'm at the top, it don't even seem high enough

I need a couple more hills and some stilts for this

there ain't nobody around

The top of the mountain, I scream and I shout

Nobody up here but me is allowed

The VIP section is deep in the clouds

Go ahead and call me a clown

'Cause I cannot hear it, your sky is my ground

Here is about more of the same.  Talking about how far he's come, and all that he has achieved.  Metaphorically of course.  

To look me in the eye, you'd have to reach the summit

I won't see you comin', I don't look down

If I stepped on glass and my feet on fire

My toes turn black and my shoes melt off

And my bones touch ground, I will not look back, I cannot look down

I don't care about how hard it gets

I gotta be the fire in the dark, I guess

I got a beating heart inside an iron chest

If they're sleepin' on me, I ain't tryin' to rest

Hope they die in their sleep while I climb to the peak

And their eyes never see all the heights that I reach

I deserve it 'cause I took the stairs to the moon

I might die from exhaustion, but I like the view

I'm higher than planets, the average person

Would die from the temperature, bodies are burning

The oxygen needed for life is inadequate

I hold my breath until I'm turning purple

All my life all you did was doubt

And now my success gon' kill you now

Wish I could see and put you in the ground

But as bad as I want to, I'll never look down

This part I think is the most emotional.  This isn't just from the lyrics either, even though it might still be at the top even if I did just mean the words.  If you watched the video than you probably know what I mean.  You can hear it in his voice.  He has put so much passion into this song that he has literally screamed his voice hoarse.  That's what you can hear in this portion of the song.  Other artists would hear that and fix it, change it to sound "normal", but not Tom.  This is one of the things that I really love about Tom and his music.  The music that he makes is such a part of him that when these moments of pure, raw, emotion are put into his music it is something that you, as the listener, can both hear and feel.

Hahahahaha

You don't get it still? I am the one, hahahahaha (Don't look down)

You don't have to admit it to yourself, you don't have to admit it (Don't look down)

You don't have to tell the whole world that when you look at me

You have to look up to me, and I don't look down (Don't look down)

Everybody, please keep on talking

I am a fucking superstar

Hahahahaha

You are a superstar Tom.  He's one of my favorite musical artists, and I have yet to hear a song that wasn't good.  Obviously, there will always be some that I love more than others but that's to be expected.  I think this one is definitely near the top.  Top 5, maybe top 3, but can't be completely sure.  Let me know what you thought of my review in the comment section.  

Till Next Time Friends,

Words by Ali