Songfacts®:

• H.E.R. wrote this acoustic, guitar-based track in Nashville with her frequent collaborator David "Swagg R'celious" Harris, and also with Ruby Amanfu, who is a member of Jack White's all-female backing band The Peacocks.
• The song was produced by Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, who has also worked with the likes of Brandy, Destiny's Child and Michael Jackson.
• "Hard Place" finds H.E.R. contemplating a relationship that has left her feeling conflicted.
  
  What if nothing ever will change?
  Oh I'm caught between your love and a hard place
  Oh I wish there was a right way
  
  "It's like a torn song," she explained to Radio.com. "You know when something isn't good for you, or maybe it is good for you, but you don't know what it is that you want."
• The song is a play on the phrase "between a rock and a hard place" meaning a dilemma involving two equally difficult or unpleasant alternatives. Though the expression has a biblical ring to it, it actually is of modern US origin.