Franchise (song)

The song was first previewed by Scott and his DJ Chase B on July 20, 2020, during the tenth episode of .WAV Radio. That version featured only Young Thug and was known under the title "White Tee". On September 16, it was made available for pre-order on Scott's website. Speaking to Apple Music, Scott said he recruited M.I.A. for the song after she reached out to him to appear on her next album, explaining, "When I finished the song, I couldn't think of nobody else that I could probably just maybe like, body this shit. You know what I'm saying? Body this shit like as hard as like anyone else, any other rapper, any other artists. And just that presence, man. We ain't felt this presence in a long time. [...] Like all of this, the energy man, music, beats, raps, God! Everything, she's the illest of all time". An in-studio look of the song's creation was released by Scott following the song's release. ==Composition==

The song interpolates and pays homage to American rap group Dem Franchize Boyz's 2004 single "White Tee" in its chorus. over a "booming" bass. Scott makes references to Spike Lee, Zootopia, and director Jeff Pollack, while Young Thug "recaptures the energy" of his song, "The London", rapping about flying private jets to France and about Pop Smoke, among other things. ==Critical reception==

Hypebeasts Sophie Caraan said the song "utilizes an interesting fusion of contrasting yet complementing flows from Scott, M.I.A. and Thugger". Matt Melis of Consequence of Sound opined: "Scott's as prolific a songwriter as he is a savvy businessman, and he flaunts that business acumen on 'Franchise' in much the same way emcees used to brag about ice and their tricked-out whips". In a negative review, Sam Gibbs of Soundigest said "the song is not anything special", however complementing M.I.A., Gibbs deemed her "a real treat in this otherwise lackluster single", for her "character and spirit bring a special sort of flair". ==Music video==

The music video premiered at select IMAX theatres prior to the film Tenet (for which Scott recorded the song "The Plan"). It was released on YouTube at midnight the same day. The video was directed by Scott and White Trash Tyler and was filmed in the UK and at Michael Jordan's mansion in Highland Park, Illinois. The visual opens with vintage footage of Jordan leaving the mansion in a bright-red second generation Range Rover, a scene taken from the Netflix basketball documentary series The Last Dance. The camera pans in on Young Thug's face as he raps his verse, before zooming out, revealing, as noted by CNET's Daniel Golson, a heavily modified, floating X80 Toyota Cressida. Reception NMEs Caleb Triscari deemed it "a fever dream of a visual". It was noted for having elements reminiscent of Kendrick Lamar's "Humble" video and the 2019 film Midsommar, and for incorporating references to the work of Chilean–French filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky. Complexs Eric Skelton named it "a video of the year contender". ==Commercial performance==

"Franchise" debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 with 19.4 million streams and 98,000 sold, of which 58,000 were cassette and CD, and 40,000 digital downloads. The song was available for purchase via two CD single options, with an instrumental version also available for download. The physical and instrumental versions were available exclusively on Scott's website, with the digital versions discounted to 69 cents and certain physical options discounted to $1 during the opening week. The single dropped to number 25 in its second week, marking the second-steepest drop from number one to another position in the chart's history at the time, behind the record-holder at that time 6ix9ine and Nicki Minaj's "Trollz", which fell 33 positions to number 34. "Franchise" debuted and peaked at number seven on the Billboard Global 200 chart. ==Performances==

Scott and Young Thug delivered the debut performance of the song in a pre-recorded video shown at the end of Rihanna's Savage X Fenty Show Part 2 on October 2, 2020; they were shown performing on vehicles, including a forklift. Also on October 2, the rappers reunited with M.I.A. on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, although Scott appeared on his own. He was shown alternating from a white-covered room and in the backseat of a self-driven car. ==Cover artwork==

The single artwork was designed by American visual artist George Condo, who also created the cover for Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and its singles. ==Accolades==

A remix with an additional feature from American rapper Future and a different outro from Scott was released on October 7, 2020. However, it also received criticism for removing the majority of M.I.A.'s contributions. ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==