"Battle Scars" is a song performed by Australian recording artist Guy Sebastian featuring American rapper Lupe Fiasco. It was released digitally in Australia and New Zealand on 10 August 2012 by Sony Music Entertainment.iTunes preview - Battle Scars. iTunes. Archived from the original on 21 August 2012. The song lyrics and music were written by Sebastian and David Ryan Harris, with the rap written by Fiasco. It was the third single lifted from Sebastian's seventh album Armageddon. Fiasco added "Battle Scars" to his fourth album, Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1 in countries other than Australia.James, Jessie (21 August 2012).Guy Sebastian Lupe Fiasco Battle Scars. Stupid Dope. Archived from the original on 21 August 2012.US iTunes preview Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1. iTunes. Archived from the original on 29 September 2012. It was released as the fourth single on 28 August 2012, credited as a duet.US iTunes preview. Battle Scars - Single Lupe Fiasco & Guy Sebastian. iTunes. Archived from the original on 2 October 2012.
"Battle Scars" debuted at number one on the ARIA Singles Chart in its first week of release and has been certified 14× platinum. It was Sebastian's tenth of 14 top ten singles in Australia and sixth to reach number one, and Fiasco's third top ten and first number one single.Guy Sebastian - Singles Discography. ARIA Chart archives. Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 August 2012Lupe Fiasco - Singles Discography. ARIA Chart archives. Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 August 2012 "Battle Scars" was the third highest selling single in Australia in 2012, the highest selling single by an Australian act.ARIA Charts - End Of Year Charts - Top 100 Singles 2012.Australian Recording Industry Association. Archived from the original on 8 January 2013ARIA Charts - End Of Year Charts - Top 50 Australian Artist Singles 2012.Australian Recording Industry Association. Archived from the original on 8 January 2013 Sebastian received ARIA Award nominations for Best Pop Release and Best Male Artist for the song.WINNERS & NOMINEES ANNOUNCED Aria Awards. 3 October 2012. Archived from the original on 2 October 2012. "Battle Scars" also reached number two and triple platinum certification in New Zealand and gold certification in Sweden.
In the United States "Battle Scars" peaked on the Billboard charts at number 71 on the Hot 100, number 23 on the Digital Song Chart and number one on the R&B/Hip-hop Digital Song Chart.Adams, Cameron (11 September 2012)Guy Sebastian's ARIA number one song Battle Scars with Lupe Fiasco hits 73 on the US Billboard Hot 100. news.com.au. Archived from the original on 29 January 2013.. Billboard.biz. Archived from on 13 September 2012. The song spent 20 nonconsecutive weeks in the Hot 100 and has been certified platinum.Guy Sebastian and Lupe Fiasco - Battle Scars. aCharts.US. Retrieved 29 January 2013.Gold Platinum searchable database.Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 9 November 2013 "Battle Scars" also reached number two in Norway.VG Lista - Top 20 Singles. Issue 49 2012. VG-lista. Archived from the original on 7 December 2012. It was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Duo, Group or Collaboration, and won the R&B/Hip category in the 2013 International Songwriting Competition.Couch, Aaron (1 February 2013).NAACP Image Awards: Winners Announced. The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 2 February 2013International Songwriting Competition Winners. International Songwriting Competition. Archived from the original on 30 April 2013.
Background "Battle Scars" is a song about the scars left from hurtful and broken relationships. In a radio interview Sebastian said, "It's about your own personal battle scars and for every individual those are different; some might be words or labels... it might be relationship scars. When I wrote this song, and when Lupe wrote his bits, we just really wanted it to be something that just inspired people to, sort of, confront those things, and also maybe try and work to think about burying and ripping up those labels; throwing them away.". Nova Radio Network. Retrieved 23 January 2015
Sebastian said Fiasco was always his first preference to contribute the rap, as he wanted to stay true to the theme of the song and found Fiasco's work very deep.Guy Sebastian: 'I beatbox my baby to sleep'.MusicFix. Archived from the original on 21 August 2012.Battle Scars (the making of) Vevo on YouTube. Retrieved 1 September 2012 Sebastian said, "He doesn't rap about booty shaking or cash, he's much more political and insightful and exactly what I wanted." He looked at other options as well, as he didn't know if Fiasco would be interested, and said he was overwhelmed when he heard Fiasco wanted to come on board.Cashin, Miranda (7 September 2012)Guy Sebastian reaches new high notes. Daily Mercury. Archived from the original on 8 October 2012. Explaining why he agreed to participate in the song Fiasco said, "Guy's vocal performance first got me about the song because it's great and then the story of the song was attractive; I just tried to enhance it."McCabe, Kathy (18 September 2012) Guy Sebastian reaps benefits from duet with American rapper Lupe Fiasco. The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 18 September 2012 Speaking of what it meant to have Fiasco collaborate on "Battle Scars" Sebastian said, "Just to get someone like Lupe on the track I knew it was going to have heart and have depth."Video: Lupe Fiasco & Guy Sebastian Perform "Battle Scars" On The X Factor Australia. KillerHipHop.com. 18 September 2012. Archived from the original on 19 September 2012. He said of Fiasco, "He is a lyrical genius and he has really portrayed the emotion of the track". Sebastian says "Battle Scars" is his "proudest release", adding, "Every now and then in your career you release something that you feel has a deeper meaning and purpose. I don't know how it will chart, but I am really proud of it regardless of what it does."Guy Sebastian interview with BigPond Music. Myspace videos. Retrieved 23 January 2015
Composition and recording "Battle Scars" is an R&B ballad with a hip hop rap, and is written in the key of F minor.Battle Scars Digital Sheet Music. musicnotes.com. Archived from the original on 14 November 2012. Sebastian and Fiasco contribute equally in the song, with the sung and rap vocals interspersed throughout. Sebastian performs the pre-chorus and chorus, with Fiasco performing the intro and two rap verses. Both artists contribute to the bridge.Battle Scar Lyrics.RapGenius. Archived from the original on 30 September 2012. Music writer and radio announcer David Lim said, "unlike the majority of these rent-a-rapper verses, Lupe Fiasco's contribution here actually feels valid and in equal weighting to Guy's sung vocals. I don't know, y'guys – it just felt like they spent a minute on this and it's not just another vanity project."Lim, David Guy Sebastian ‘Battle Scars’ (feat. Lupe Fiasco) Single Review. Feed Limmy. Archived from the original on 21 August 2012.
In interviews during the release week Sebastian explained that usually when he writes a song he comes up with the melody first with no words. However this time some of the lyrics came at the same time. While driving to a friend's house he started singing "These battle scars", and then other phrases such as "Don't look like they're fading, don't look like they're ever going away" came to him. These words form part of the chorus, which is used repeatedly during the song, and is one of its two hooks. After completing the song with David Ryan Harris it was recorded leaving all the parts where Sebastian envisaged the rap should go.
When Fiasco was in Australia for Supafest he came to Sebastian's Sydney studio to record the rap. He already had two versions prepared, one with war themed lyrics. Sebastian decided to use that one without listening to the other one. Fiasco said he came into the studio with other rap pieces as well. One was the phrase "Hope the wound heals but it never does, that's cause you're at war with love". He explained that he does not feel fully confident musically when collaborating with other artists, and he had been prepared to discard those lines if Sebastian didn't like them. Sebastian decided to use the phrase as the intro and also three times in the bridge with slight variations to some of the words.What Lupe Fiasco wrote in "Battle Scars" with Guy Sebastian. YouTube. Retrieved 23 January 2015 It became the second hook in the song.McQuire, Colin (27 September 2012) Pop Matters - Lupe Fiasco: Food and Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1. PopMatters. Archived from the original on 27 September 2012 Fiasco said, "I didn't recognise that. I just looked at it as a filler and maybe it will work. But for him to take it like 'No, that's dope and we're going to use it, and we're going to put it here and here', it was kind of like 'yeah thanks man'. It made me feel really good."
Release and promotion
"Battle Scars" was serviced to radio on 2 August 2012, and released digitally in Australia and New Zealand on 10 August 2012, with Fiasco credited as a featured artist. The song was the most added track to radio in its first week in Australia, debuting at number 31 on the National Airplay Chart.Chartifacts - Week commencing 17 August 2012. Australian Music Report. Archived from the original on 21 August 2012Weekly Hot 100 - Week of 6 October 2012. Australian Music Report. Archived from the original on 30 September 2012 It became the most played song in Australia in its seventh week, where it remained for two weeks.Weekly Hot 100 - Week of 20 October 2012. Australian Music Report. Archived from the original on 16 October 2012 Sebastian was interviewed by media and music sites including Music Fix, BigPond Music and The Music Network to promote the single.Reid, Poppy (14 August 2012)Guy Sebastian shows his battle scars. The Music Network. Archived from the original on 22 August 2012 He also had interviews with radio stations, and performed the song live on the Today Network's Fifi and Jules show on 13 August 2012. Fred Day, a member of Three Wishez, who were in the final 12 of the 2011 series of The X Factor, performed Fiasco's rap during this performance.Guy Sebastian - Battle Scars Live Acoustic. Austereo. Retrieved 22 August 2012