''Tougher'' is a

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

singer–songwriter

Lainey Wilson Lainey Denay Wilson (born May 19, 1992) is an American country music singer–songwriter and actress. Wilson performed from an early age, before going to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career as a country performer. In 2014, she released her f ...

. It was released on April 8, 2016 via Lone Chief Records and contained ten tracks. It was the second record released in Wilson's career and her first to gain traction on the American country albums chart. The project's title track was released as the

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

from the album in 2015.

Background and content

Lainey Wilson would later reach breakthrough success with 2020's "

Things a Man Oughta Know "Things a Man Oughta Know" is a song recorded by American country music singer Lainey Wilson. It was released in August 2020 as the second single from Wilson's ''Redneck Hollywood'' EP and would later be included on her 2021 album ''Sayin' What I ...

". Prior to that, Wilson had been performing and recording as a country artist in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

for several years. One of the projects she released prior to 2020 was ''Tougher''. The album was recorded between 2015 and 2016 in

. It contained a total of ten tracks and was produced by Frank Foster. The album's title track describes the loss of a friend, a grandfather and Wilson's other experiences during childhood. In an interview with ''Songwriter Magazine'', Wilson reflected on the content of ''Tougher'': "...It’s so cool to go back and listen to the music that I put out years ago. I’m proud of how far I’ve come, and I’m seeing that growth in my writing. But more importantly, just me as a human, the more life you live, the better songs you write."

Release and chart performance

''Tougher'' was preceded by the release of its title track. The song was issued as the lead single off the project in 2015. The album itself was released on April 8, 2016 via the Lone Chief label. It was the second full-length studio album issued in Wilson's music career. It was offered as both a

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

and as a digital release to platforms which included

Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...

. The album received enough attention where it charted the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Top Country Albums Top Country Albums is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The 50-position chart lists the most popular country music albums in the country, calculated weekly by Broadcast Data Systems based on physical sales a ...

survey. Spending one week on the chart, ''Tougher'' peaked at number 44 following its release in April 2021.

Background and content

Release and chart performance

Track listing

Chart performance

Release history

References