I Ain't Worried

In an interview with Ryan Seacrest on On Air with Ryan Seacrest, Tedder revealed that the idea for the song started during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic after one of his friends at Paramount Pictures invited him to participate in the soundtrack of the new Top Gun. At that time, Tom Cruise had turned down about thirty songs for the soundtrack, and was looking for a band to create an original song for the new film, specifically for the beach scene.^[1] Tedder said that "I Ain't Worried" was "written with the characters in mind relaxing and having fun in the scene for the first time in those two hours of film", making the song manage to make the scene memorable in its own way and at the same time fit in with the action and emotion scenes throughout the film.^[1][2] The band recorded the song during the 2021 MTV Europe Music Awards in November at the Kempinski Hotel Corvinus in Budapest, where they stayed during the song's release on May 13.^[3][4] The song also featured the band's frontman Ryan Tedder's son Copeland, who was credited as one of the backing vocals. Following the release of the lead single from the Top Gun: Maverick soundtrack "Hold My Hand" on May 3, "I Ain't Worried" was officially released as the second single on May 13 by Interscope Records and Mosley Music Group, the label on which the band is part.^[5] The song, along with its music video directed by Isaac Rentz, made its global debut on MTV Live and MTVU, as well as on the billboards of the Paramount Theater Manhattan on Times Square.^[6]

"I Ain't Worried" appears during the scene where Maverick and his students play football at a beach. Tedder felt that illustrating the song worked with the film was important, given the traditional Hollywood wisdom that "you can lose a song if it doesn’t play to picture." Given the film's secrecy, Tedder found this hard to convey: initially, they were not allowed a copy of the segment they were writing for. In a Zoom call, he was played footage from the scene, and decided to take matters into his own hands: he used his smartphone to record the scene from his computer screen, and then edited that sequence to the song himself with help from his co-writers.^[7] "We edited it, trying to guess what the film editor himself or herself would do," he explained to Variety. Cruise was thrilled with the results, and found Tedder's determination riotously funny, remarking, "Well, that's a first." Tedder estimated that most of his edit made it into the film unaltered.^[8]

"I Ain't Worried" attracted widespread praise from music critics. Greta Brereton of NME praised Tedder's vocals on the song, also highlighting the song's fast-paced melody and upbeat pop production, in contrast to Lady Gaga's song for the soundtrack, "Hold My Hand".^[9] In a Billboard article, Hannah Dailey praised the song's lyrical content and laid-back style, citing that they "uniquely connect with the atmosphere of the movie scene in which the song makes its presence".^[10] Writing for The Charlotte Observer, Théoden James said the beat and vocals of song is a "super-infectious bubblegum" and a "pop perfection in general".^[11]

Tyler Golsen from Far Out Magazine wrote that "'I Ain’t Worried' doesn’t have enough length or substance to be considered annoying. It’s just a brief slice of pop music nothingness: sunny, breezy, light, and utterly forgettable", but praised the song's melody, saying "Granted, something scratches at the back of your ears when you put the song. Chalk that up to super technician Ryan Tedder, who can make a memorable melody out of just about anything".^[12]

The accompanying music video was directed by Isaac Rentz, best known for directing the music videos of "She's Kinda Hot" by 5 Seconds of Summer and "Hey Hey Hey" by Katy Perry. The music video was released on May 13, 2022, alongside the song, and was shown in major theaters across the United States. The band performs on the palm tree-covered outdoor stage under the sunset, with the images interspersed with a few clips from the film every now and then.

To promote the film and song with the release of its soundtrack, OneRepublic performed "I Ain't Worried" for the first time on May 28, 2022, on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.^[13] The band performed the song for the second time on Good Morning America (GMA) held on July 15, 2022, at Times Square Studios in Manhattan.^[14] The song was also a regular part of band setlist for the Never Ending Summer Tour. After the tour, on October 5, 2022, the band performed the song once again during The Late Late Show with James Corden.^[15] On November 13, 2022, the band performed "I Ain't Worried" at the 2022 MTV Europe Music Awards.

• Digital download

1. "I Ain't Worried" – 2:29

• EP version^[16]

1. "I Ain't Worried (ft. Becky G) [Latin Version]" – 2:16
2. "I Ain't Worried - Acoustic" – 2:29
3. "I Ain't Worried (Slowed + Reverb)" – 2:53
4. "I Ain't Worried (Sped Up)" – 2:08
5. "I Ain't Worried (Collins String Version))" – 2:31
6. "I Ain't Worried (Live from the MTV EMAs)" – 3:23

• Ryan Tedder – vocals, songwriter, production, vocal production
• Tyler Spry – songwriter, production, guitar, background vocals
• Brent Kutzle – songwriter, production
• Simon Oscroft – production, guitar
• John Nathaniel – co-production, mixing, background vocals
• John Eriksson – songwriter
• Peter Morén – songwriter
• Björn Yttling – songwriter
• Chris Gehringer – mastering
• Brandon Collins – additional programming
• Copeland Tedder – main background vocals