This empowering anthemic track finds vocalist Patrick Stump proclaiming, "If I can live through this, I can do anything." Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz, who is also the band's lyricist, has been taking medication for bipolar disorder since he was eighteen, and it may well be that he is referencing his battles with the disorder.
Pete Wentz teased "Champion" on Instagram a couple of weeks before its release, describing how it reminds him of the plot of the 1980s movie The NeverEnding Story. He wrote: "It always stuck out to me as a kid - first they're like, 'Wait you're just a kid lol we need a warrior', then they're like, 'OK you'll do, I guess you'll do,' and then, 'No one can help you and if you don't do this, our entire world dies, so no pressure' (Shout out to the face Atreyu makes after the guy is like 'our whole world will be destroyed'). No one believes but at the same time we all need to believe in you. This one is for the kid warriors out there hunting the purple buffalo."
Pete Wentz posted a message, to coincide with the song's release, in which he stated the track was inspired by various legendary greats who had to overcome obstacles before they became champions. "Nelson Mandela. Billie Jean King. The kid hunters of the purple buffalo. Niki Lauda. Jamal Malik. Michael Jordan playing baseball. The Warriors (and the Cubs!)... In my head champions aren't born, they are forged."
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