So when his sophomore single arrived, it pretty much required the country universe to pay attention. That song – mirroring its title, “World on Fire” – blew up, outstripping the previous release’s reach by tying the record for the longest run at the top of the Country Airplay chart since that list’s 1990 inception.“World” had a brawny sound, and its successor, “Bulletproof,” operates a bit like a boxer following the previous single’s body blow with a fierce left hook.
“We’ve done that forever,” Johnson says. “It’s basically just getting ready for a write, you know. You want to make sure you’re armed with ideas and vibes and melodies.” “This one was faster than most of the songs I would say that we’ve ever written,” Phelps says. “It was quick, because I remember instantly him going ‘I’ve tried Jack, I’ve tried Jim.’ I was like, ‘Man, we’re off to the races right now. That’s it.’”
“If you have a big post-chorus,” Johnson reasons, “you don’t really want a long second verse, because you want to leave a lot of real estate for that post-chorus to come around.” Producer Lindsay Rimes recruited drummer Evan Hutchings, bassist Tony Lucido, guitarists Sol Philcox-Littlefield and Tim Galloway, plus keyboardist Alex Wright for a tracking session at Nashville’s Blackbird Studios. They played the demo for the band, and encouraged them to rock it harder. By the time they got to the instrumental break, Philcox-Littlefield went a little farther than they had in mind, playing what Smith called a “super-rippin’ guitar solo.” Smith asked him to dial it back.