Format Digital download Genre Country Label EMI Nashville | Recorded 2013–14 Length 4:22 | |
Released September 15, 2014 (2014-09-15) | ||
"Talladega" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music singer Eric Church. It is the fourth single from his fourth studio album, The Outsiders. It was released to radio on September 15, 2014.
Contents
Background
The song is about a man sharing memories from a trip made to Talladega Superspeedway with friends after his senior year in high school. According to Church, the song was written and partially recorded on July 7, 2012, while he was on tour. It was later recorded with his band in Nashville for release on The Outsiders. Church took inspiration from watching a NASCAR race on television, but both he and co-writer Luke Laird said that the song is not about racing. Rather, Church said that the race and the song represents "that experience, whatever that is: the experience with the person next to you, and knowing that that’s probably a finite time in your life. It’s not gonna last forever."
Music video
The music video was directed by Peter Zavadil and premiered in December 2014. Despite its title, the video was not filmed at Talladega Superspeedway, but was filmed at Nashville Superspeedway.
Chart performance
"Talladega" debuted on the Country Digital Songs chart at No. 29, and Hot Country Songs at No. 41, with 14,000 sold when the album The Outsiders was released in February 2014. After the song was released as a single in September, it debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at No. 90 for the charted dated November 8, 2014. It peaked at No. 43 on the Hot 100 for the chart dated February 7, 2015, and at No. 2 on the Hot Country Songs chart a week later. As of March 2015, the single has sold 534,000 copies in the United States.