Songfacts®:

• The uplifting lead single from Lea Michele's debut album, Louder, finds her reaffirming her newfound inner strength. The song was penned by hitmakers Sia (Katy Perry, Rihanna, Britney Spears) and Benny Blanco (Bruno Mars, Kesha, Maroon 5) and produced by Stargate (Ne-Yo, Rihanna, Katy Perry).
• The lyrics about finding inner strength after a difficult experience mirror Michele's own life following the loss of her boyfriend Cory Monteith in July 2013. "The minute I heard the song, I had a physical reaction to it. For me, it's been my strength," the Glee star told MTV News. "I listen to it every day. I know it was brought into my life for a reason. It's really been so helpful for me and I hope it's the same for other people as it's been for me."
• Michele laid down the song just a month or so after her loss. "[Sia] said to me 'How do you feel in this moment?' And I said 'I just feel like grief is the hardest thing in the whole world. And you have the opportunity, at a certain point, to either let it kind of take you down or try your best to rise,' " she recalled to MTV News. "And I said 'I need to get out and I need to move forward in his memory and do everything I can for him.'"
• Michele was aware that fans had been grieving with her over the loss of Cory Monteith, which is why she lead her Louder album with this song. "I wanted 'Cannonball' to be the first single because I just wanted everyone to know where I was at," the Glee star told MTV News. "It wasn't even originally supposed to be the first single, but I just didn't feel, that coming out of the gate, that I could lead with any other song because it was just so important for everyone to know, like, here's where we are. Everything's OK."