Songfacts®:

• Ashley Cooke's "Your Place" is a breakup anthem with a backbone of steel, released in December 2023 as the lead single for her debut album, Shot in the Dark. The tune's a barnburner about drawing a clear line in the dust and taking back your power after a two-timing ex just won't get the hint.
• The song was inspired by a real-life breakup when Cooke decided to kick that no-good boyfriend to the curb after discovering his infidelity. But even with the door firmly shut, he just wouldn't take "no" for an answer, pestering her something fierce about getting back together.
  
  "For me, being in that toxic relationship my whole young adult life, it was something for me to say, 'no, I know my worth, I have my power, and I'm not going to put up with your bulls--t, to be completely honest,'" Cooke told Country Now. "So it was kind of my reclaiming my power song."
  
  With the sentiment simmering inside her, Cooke jotted down the hook, "It ain't your place," on her phone. That powerful phrase became the cornerstone of the song, capturing the newfound boundaries she was setting for herself.
• "Your Place" was the first idea Cooke brought to the table during a writing session with Jordan Minton ("Best Thing Since Backroads," "Save Me The Trouble") at the Nashville studio of songwriter Mark Trussell ("Good Time," "Fill Them Boots") on August 16, 2022. It was one of those magical moments where a perfect song idea strikes gold.
  
  "It felt like something that we hadn't heard before," Minton told Billboard. "But also we could see the road map for the whole song when she said it."
• Cooke cut "Your Place" during the last session for Shot In the Dark on November 14, 2022, at Nashville's Ocean Way. Working alongside producer Jimmy Robbins (known for wrangling hits for Kelsea Ballerini and Maddie & Tae), they aimed to keep the finished product lean and mean. Robbins battled a nasty case of food poisoning while putting the whole thing together. "It was horrible," he recalled.