Songfacts®:

• The first single from Eric Church's fourth album is a gritty left-field rocker that was written by Church and Casey Beathard and helmed by Jay Joyce, Church's longtime producer. The song was officially sent for radio adds on October 28, 2013.
• Casey Beathard also co-penned Church's last single, "Like Jesus Does." The Nashville songwriter's other credits include "The Breath You Take" by George Strait and "The Boys of Fall" by Kenny Chesney.
• The Metal moments that mark the song's last minute came during a jam and resemble nothing you've heard on Country radio. "If you go past that, it's a cliff," Church told The Associated Press "Sometimes I feel like we're leaning over it."
• The renegade spirit of the song perfectly sums up Church's career. "A lot of people think it's ironic that we've had the success we've had over the last couple of years, won awards and had #1s, and it's called The Outsiders," Church told Billboard magazine. "But it's about the journey to get to that point. I certainly have a place in my heart for anybody who is different, anybody who is doing things that other people aren't doing. I've been that person. This song's for a 13- or 14-year-old kid who doesn't quite have it all together yet and he's the outcast. It's a gladiator song. It's a locker-room song. It fires you up."
• The line in this song, "The players gonna play and a haters gonna hate," became a legal issue after Taylor Swift used a variation of it as the hook to her 2014 hit "Shake It Off."
  
  In 2017 Swift was sued by the writers of a 2001 song by 3LW called "Playas Gon' Play," claiming she plagiarized it. As the case wound through the legal system, Church got subpoenaed. In a June 2025 Rolling Stone interview, Church said he send Swift a wry text: "Hey, thanks. Next time, let's just skip that part?" Swift replied, "I'm sorry. It's the truth, though. That's when I heard that phrase."
  
  This wasn't the first time Church played a part in Swift's life story. Back in 2006 he was booted from Rascal Flatts' tour for playing too long. His replacement was Taylor Swift, just 16 at the time. The tour gave her major exposure and was a milestone in her career.