Cold Shoulder

Album: 23 (2022)
Charted: 25
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "Cold Shoulder" is an expression meaning a show of intentional unfriendliness. It verbalizes a turning away of the upper body, indicating a slight or rejection. During this introspective track, Central Cee recalls a time when he reached out for a helping hand, only to be given a cold shoulder.
  • Throughout the track, Central Cee documents his personal life and troubles. The rapper details the pressures that come with his rise to fame, his sense of duty to provide for his family, rival rappers releasing diss tracks, and issues with bipolar disorder.
  • Central Cee ends the emotional track by reflecting on being labeled a "one-hit wonder" after his breakout single "Day In The Life" hit the UK Top 50.

    Said I was a one-hit wonder
    I took that shot and I followed it through


    Central Cee subsequently released a string of hit singles that reached the UK Top 20, proving his critics wrong.
  • Young Chencs, a producer from the Midlands town of Kettering, supplied the melancholic drill beat. A frequent Central Cee collaborator, his other productions for the West London rhymer include "6 For 6" and "Retail Therapy."
  • The black-and-white video sees Central Cee hanging out with his crew in his local West London patch and touring Los Angeles. Among the friends he links up with in between shows in LA is The Kid Laroi.
  • Other artists with songs about getting the cold shoulder include Adele, N-Dubz, and Josh Turner.

    In addition, Garth Brooks gives an alternative meaning to the expression where he sings of a lonely trucker parked on a road's cold shoulder.

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