Songfacts®:

• This song finds Kane Brown opening up about his feelings regarding mass shootings and policing in late 2010s America.
  
  So wake me up
  From this American bad dream
  Is it this messed up?
  Or is it really reality?
  I'm becoming numb
  To all of this tragedy
  
  Brown told Billboard the lyrics are "messed up, but so real." He added that he was trying to bring up an issue that not many others were talking about in music other than Childish Gambino.
• During the second verse, Brown delves into issues of corrupt police officers, a topic that Nashville rarely touches.
  
  I remember doing ten over the limit would just get you a ticket
  Just an inconvenience getting stopped
  Bad cops played the jury, made the good ones worry
  About showing up and doing their job
  
  Brown explained to Taste of Country that his grandma was a detective, so he has some family history to back up the verse. "My nana was a great cop," he said. "You also have bad cops that were bullied in school or whatever and think that they have power and that makes other cops look bad. I just feel like everybody should stop hiding behind the lies or just seeing everything on social media and just realize the situation."
• Brown wrote the song with Sam Ellis, Chase McGill and Josh Hoge. He admitted he was initially nervous about the reactions it might provoke. "But after we finished the song, I felt that we wrote it well enough that you could see that I wasn't trying to say anything bad... just cause awareness," he said. "No matter what artist you are, if you mention anything of this it's assumed people are going to give you hell for it."