Won't Back Down

This DJ Khalil-produced features pop singer Pink. Eminem told Skyrock Radio in Paris about the collaboration: "When I did the song that I did with Pink, I laid my parts first and kind of heard her on the record and felt that she would smash this record."

This was one of four tracks on Recovery to be produced by DJ Khalil. The Los Angeles based American hip hop/soul record producer was recruited by Eminem's camp to work on Recovery. "There was no direction," Khalil told MTV News. "He's a fan. [Eminem's manager] Paul Rosenberg and Em both called me, they said they'd been following me since the Slaughterhouse records, the Clipse/Kanye record and all the stuff that I've down with Kobe. They were into my production, and it's different than everybody else's, because it's dense. There's a lot of music going on. Even with 'Won't Back Down,' he told me the track was beating him down. He had to scream to be able to rap over that track. They just wanted what I do. When I talked to them, they said I was a big part of the direction for the record," Khalil continued. "And for Eminem to say that, that's amazing. That's like the biggest compliment you can get."

Khali revealed to MTV News that a different artist was initially featured on the song, until Eminem suggested the collaboration with Pink. "He called me, and originally we had another vocalist, Liz Rodrigues, who is in my group," the producer explained. "I have a group called the New Royales and they're based in Canada; Liz is from Toronto. Originally she was on the song, but she was already on '25 to Life' and 'Almost Famous.' So, we were thinking, 'Who else could we get for this record that would actually fit?'
When he brought up Pink, I thought she would kill it, she'd murder it. He set up the session in Malibu and we did the session and she was done in like 20 minutes. She nailed it in her way. I was kind of married to the original, but once I heard what she did and she put her stamp on it, it was like perfect, 'cause she just brought the attitude out."