Tough

The first single from American Country artist Kellie Pickler's third album is a female anthem, which finds the song's narrator declaring that while she is just a regular girl, she has been able to overcome challenges in her life by staying tough. The song was released on June 13, 2011.

The song was written by Country and Bluegrass songwriter Leslie Satcher, who also has songwriting credits on tracks by George Strait, Martina McBride, Gretchen Wilson, Patty Loveless, and Vince Gill.

Despite being written by an outside writer, the song is autobiographical and sums up Pickler's personality. After her first session of writing with Satcher, Pickler told the songwriter that though she's been given some great songs by songwriters for the album, they just didn't feel right for her as they didn't really reflect her true personality. The American Idol alumna told The Boot that Satcher was determined to find out the real Kellie. She said: "I told her about my life and my story, and I shared some very, very personal things with her that I've never shared with anybody. She went home, locked herself in the room and said, 'I ain't coming out until I write Kellie Pickler's first single.' She tells me that I speak in lyrics, so she could take my story and what I shared with her and sum it up with one word she used to described me, and that was 'tough.'"