Draft:Tough (Lana Del Rey and Quavo Song)

"Tough" is a song by Quavo and Lana Del Rey, released on July 3, 2024. The song was produced by Cirkut and Andrew Watt, both of which also have writing credits alongside Quavo, Lana Del Rey, Clayton Johnson, Benny Negrin, Elysse Yulo, Jack Antonoff, Jaxson Free, Josh Dorr, Maddox Batson, and Nick Bailey.

Background
On February 3, 2024, Del Rey and Quavo were seen leaving Fleur Room in Los Angeles, California, after Clive Davis' Pre-Grammy Gala. When asked by paparazzi if the two would ever collaborate, Quavo would respond, "We're having hits."

On February 12, an insider confirmed their collaboration, revealed the song to potentially appear on Del Rey's upcoming album, Lasso.

Del Rey and Quavo would share a snippet of the song and some lyrics on May 9. On June 19, the two artists posted a second snippet of the song on Instagram with the caption "Tough". The next day, Del Rey brought Quavo out as a surprise guest to perform this song at her show at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts as part of the Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd Promotional Tour.

After the song's release, Quavo posted a video of he and Del Rey in the studio recording the song. The song would mark the first collaboration between Quavo and Lana Del Rey.

Writing
The song originated as a demo from Maddox Batson, a 14-year-old singer from Alabama, co-written by Batson, Clayton Johnson, Elysse Yulo, Josh Dorr, Benny Brisk, Jaxson Free, and Nick Bailey in November of 2023. Johnson recorded his own writer's demo of the song and presented it to Del Rey in January of 2024, who would in turn involve Jack Antonoff, Quavo, Cirkut, and Andrew Watt.

Upon the song's release, many of the song's co-writers would take to social media to promote their contributions the song. The various artists shared the progression of the song's composition in a serious of voice notes and writer's demos.

Yulo shared her early interpretation of the chorus in a voice note with the caption

"LOOK AT WHERE WE ARE BABY! I’m still in complete and utter shock that I get to say I have a song out today with @quavohuncho and @honeymoon. I did not even dare to dream big enough for something like this. Thank you to everyone who made the dang thing happen! From all my co-writers who took my chorus idea and made it 100x better, to the person who got it placed, to Quavo and Lana and the LA team for believing in it and completely making it their own, and our teams who fought for this song, I do not have the words to thank you all enough! This is a big team win and I will be forever grateful for this experience! Here’s to many more together!" Batson shared parts of his writer's demo with the following caption:

"Happy early 4th of July, everyone! I can’t believe I wrote a song with the homies that Lana Del Rey and Quavo just released called “Tough.” This song is especially important to me because I got the inspiration from the most important man in my life, my dad. Thank you, Ms. Del Rey and Mr. Quavo, for releasing this song. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that at 14 years old, y’all would release a song I helped write. Thank you to everyone who was involved and helped make this possible. 🇺🇸 ❤️" Del Rey's ex-boyfriend Clayton Johnson shared clips of his reference demo and would write:

"Back in January, Lana and I sat in Nashville free styling songs on an acoustic guitar about imaginary animals and Oliver's chew toys. I showed her a few songs I had been working on, and played her a song idea from a different session. She had a vision for it. Her and Jack gave me a call when she got home and asked if we could rework this voice note idea that I sent over for "Tough." The rest is history. Thank you to the other original writers that carved this thing out together in Nashville, and thank you to Quavo, Jack, Cirkut, Andrew, and especially Lana for having the vision to take this voice note and turn it into something special. TOUGH out now 💪🏼"

Credits

 * Andrew Watt — songwriting, production
 * Cirkut — songwriting, production
 * Lana Del Rey — songwriting, vocals
 * Quavo — songwriting, vocals
 * Benny Negrin — songwriting
 * Clayton Johnson — songwriting
 * Elysse Yulo — songwriting
 * Jack Antonoff — songwriting
 * Jaxson Free — songwriting
 * Joshua Dorr — songwriting
 * Maddox Batson — songwriting
 * Nick Bailey — songwriting
 * Manny Marroquin — mixing
 * Anthony Vilchis — mixing assistance
 * Trey Station — mixing assistance
 * Zach Pereyra — mixing assistance
 * Mike Bozzi — mastering
 * Brandra Ringo — A&R
 * Liz Isik — A&R administration
 * Todd Sullivan — A&R administration