Songfacts®:

• This song featuring Nicki Minaj was released as a street single in advance of Young Money artist Shanell's debut album. The cut wasn't originally slated to be the first single but after it leaked to the Web in early September 2010 it drew a strong response.
• Shanell explained to MTV News that the song represents the "tough skin" type of girls. "Me and my homegirl Mika Means were actually in the studio and we were coming up with stuff and we started that song, 'Cupid's Got a Gun,' " Shanell explained. "It's a love song, but it's a love song told in a different way. I'm not really a mushy person, so I express my emotions, it's like, instead of saying I love you, it's I f---ing love you. So the way I write my love songs comes out different. And it's this energy that I felt that it needed, 'cause I consider myself a boss type of chick and I got a tough skin. I thought Nicki would be perfect to be on this record to exemplify that boss type of energy. I played it for her and she jumped right on it."
• Shanell described the concept of the song's music video as a combination of "Smooth Criminal" and the movies Sin City and Kill Bill. "As a writer, there's a picture in my head and I'm basically writing a story to the pictures that flash in my head," she explained to MTV News. "So I always had the visual for the video in my head. But once we got Nicki on it, I thought, Oh, [those three as a mix would work]."