Kellie Pickler Shares The Story Behind “Tough”

“Really how this came about was I’d heard about Leslie and of course heard songs she’d written and was a fan of hers long before I met her,” Kellie tells CountryMusicIsLove. “We sat down to write a song a couple months ago for the first time, we had never met each other. You never know if there’s going to be chemistry or what the vibe in the room is going to be like.”

“We sat down wrote a song and we hit it off together and I asked her after our [writing session] if she would make me a CD of some her favorite songs that she’s written that artists haven’t recorded yet and she said, ‘Yeah, absolutely, what are you looking for and where are you in the song picking process?’ and I said, ‘Well, honestly, that’s been the hardest part is finding the right songs for me.'”

At this point Kellie says she had heard “a million songs,” but that they “just weren’t right” for her. So she turned to Satcher for help.

“I said, ‘You know, Leslie, I feel like a lot of the songs that are being given to me, I can tell that the people that are writing them, they really don’t know me’ and she goes, ‘Well, who are ya?’ and I said ‘Good question.’

Kellie then opened up to Satcher.

“I kind of went into detail about my life and we had some personal one-on-one time,” Pickler explains. “I told her about my life story and different things I’d experienced, been through, and seen and I told her some very private things that I had never shared with anyone. I didn’t know she was going to go home and write about it, but I’m glad she did.”

Kellie says Satcher went home and “locked herself in her room” with a promise that she wouldn’t come out until she wrote “Kellie Pickler’s first single.”

“So she took what I said, she took my story, and she put it in ‘Tough’ and that’s how she kind of wrapped up my life, I guess the best you can in 2 minutes and 30 seconds.”

Even though Pickler didn’t write the song she admits it’s “absolutely” auto-biographical.

“It’s really wild too because it’s very rare that a songwriter will write a song specifically for you and it actually be just right on target,” she says.

Kellie is only one of three artists Leslie has ever written a song specifically for. She wrote “Troubadour” for George Strait, another song specifically for Willie Nelson, and “Tough” just for Kellie Pickler.

“I was like ,’Wow, I’m in some good company,'” Kellie said after she found out she was one of those three artists.

The newlywed says she very thankful to have this song and that she’s happy Leslie came into her life.

“I’ve been so blessed to be where I am today and to have the people around me that I have around me and Leslie is one of those blessings. She’s been an absolute angel in this process and so I’m really excited about the song and I hope everybody else likes it.”