Collaborating with U.S. Georgian native rapper and record producer Quavo amid dating allegations, ”Tough” seems to be the start of the official rollout for Lana’s tenth studio album, aptly known as Lasso by the media and Lana alike.

A tale about difficulties facing both family and drugs, the single is a track of re-insurance, suggesting togetherness no matter how rocky the road becomes

As announced back in February 2024, Lana stated to IHeartRadio her desires to foray into ‘western’ genres for this upcoming album; therefore, the western country iconography as seen throughout this track is no surprise here, mentioned primarily through the chorus:

Tough like the scuff on a pair of old leather boots
Like the blue-collar, red-dirt attitude
Like a .38 made out of brass”

Although the western theme has been heavily implied to be on the album, whether or not it will be a prevalent theme throughout the album’s narrative remains in ambiguity; Lana reinforced this sentiment within an interview with NME in May 2024:

What can I say now? What can I say now? […] When I gave Jack Antonoff his award for best producer of the year and I said “Welcome Nashville to Hollywood, and Hollywood welcome Nashville, ‘cause the music business is gone, gone country” and it went silent, 5,000 people in dead silence; and then the next week, three major artists announced big country albums, so where’s Lasso going? I really have no idea now”

Despite this, however, it remains irrefutable that the country influences run rampant through the lyrical content of this single, and although, sonically being reminiscent of her 2017 album, Lust for Life, the country side of this single is undeniable.

The song got released July 3, 2024 at 9am PST, the date was shared from Lana’s newsletter the day before. With the release, in his youtube channel, Quavo premiered the videoclip of the song.

On that same day, Lana and Quavo also released the “Tough” Merch where fans could’ve buy the LP version of the song including the Tough single and “Tough (Instrumental)”.

Clayton Johnson on an Instagram post:
“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.”