Lana Del Rey and Quavo Are Countryside-Living Lovers on ‘Tough’
Lana Del Rey and Quavo are a country-loving, shotgun-shooting couple on their country-rap collaboration, “Tough.” The track dropped Wednesday afternoon.
“Tough like the scuff on a pair of old leather boots/Like the blue-collar, red-dirt attitude,” sings Del Rey on the song’s chorus. “Like a .38 made out of brass/Tough like the stuff in your grandpa’s glass.”
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The Wyatt Spain Winfrey-directed video sees the pair of musicians sharing a life of leisure at a countryside mansion, taking turns shooting guns and riding a beat-up Chevy truck. The lyrics hear the pair singing from the perspective of a couple reflecting on life’s tribulations after getting to a better place.
At one point, Quavo references Takeoff, crossing his arms as a letter T, while rapping: “Standin’ through the storm, still shinin’ like a diamond in the rough/And that’s hard if you evеr lost someone that you love.”
On Instagram, Clayton Johnson, one of the track’s songwriters, shared that he helped co-write the song with Del Rey during a trip to Nashville back in January while “free-styling songs on an acoustic guitar about imaginary animals.” Johnson said Del Rey “had a vision” for the track and they decided to rework a voice note he had recorded into what is now “Tough.”
“Her and Jack [Antonoff] gave me a call when she got home and asked if we could rework this voice note idea that I sent over for ‘Tough,'” he wrote on Instagram. “The rest is history.”
Del Rey and Quavo shared a snippet of the Cirkut and Andrew Watt-produced track on Instagram last month. They later debuted the song while Del Rey performed at Boston’s Fenway Park. The new song also arrives about five months after Del Rey and Quavo were spotted attending a party together during Grammys week in February.
“Tough 4th Of July,” the duo wrote on Instagram announcing the track’s release date over the weekend. The announcement sees Del Rey putting a necklace around Quavo’s neck.
Earlier this year, Del Rey announced she’d release Lasso in September. “If you can’t already tell by our award winners and our performers, the music business is going country,” she told the crowd. “We’re going country. It’s happening. That’s why Jack [Antonoff] has followed me to Muscle Shoals, Nashville, Mississippi, over the last four years.”
This is far from the first time Del Rey has collaborated with rappers in her music. A$AP Rocky played an alternate-universe version of John F. Kennedy in the iconic video for Born to Die‘s “National Anthem” in 2012. He later joined her on “Groupie Love” and “Summer Bummer,” which also featured Playboi Carti from 2017’s Lust for Love. Rocky and Del Rey also recorded a fan-favorite unreleased track titled “Ridin.”
In 2014, French Montana sampled Del Rey’s “Video Games” for “All For You,” which featured verses from Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa.
The new track follows Del Rey’s headlining sets at Coachella, which featured appearances from Camila Cabello and Billie Eilish on separate weekends. Her last album arrived last year with Did You Know There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.
“Through stories of her family, a failed relationship, her conflicting desire of being both seen and hidden, Del Rey exposes more than just who she is, but why she is who she is,” read a Rolling Stone review of the LP.
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