Gauge/gravity duality can provide a theoretical handle on exotic phases of matter lacking conventional descriptions. However, there are still open questions regarding the exact interpretation of such holographic phases. I will argue that careful "top-down" studies of known dualities, where the full machinery of supergravity comes into play, are important in making progress on such questions. As an example, I will discuss the computation of correlation functions of both fermionic and bosonic operators in states of finite density ABJM theory; these states are described by black holes in N=8 supergravity. Strict adherence to the top-down framework means that meaningful quantitative comparisons between those computations can be made, and allows one to search for previously unseen correlations.
