Country singer joins Ed Sheeran, Tate McRae, Rosé, and more on all-star soundtrack out June 27
Chris Stapleton has shared the new song “Bad as I Used to Be,” the country singer’s contribution to the upcoming all-star F1 soundtrack.
Keeping pace with the companion album’s high-octane predecessors, Stapleton rocks out heavy on the new track, which heus closer to ZZ Top and Dire Straits than his own award-winning solo work.
“Bad as I Used to Be” marks Stapleton’s first solo song since the release of his 2023 album Higher. The country star joins artists like Tate McRae, Rosé, Don Toliver with Doja Cat, Madison Beer, Tiësto, and Sexyy Red, Roddy Ricch, and Ed Sheeran on the soundtrack for the Brad Pitt-starring racing movie.
F1: The Album is produced and overseen by Grammy Award winner and Atlantic Records West Coast President Kevin Weaver, the producer of Barbie the Album, Twisters: The Album, and other soundtracks. The F1 companion LP will be available in full on June 27, the same day as the film’s premiere.
In the lead-up to its release, F1: The Album has dropped a new song every week over the past month. Previous previews include Don Toliver and Doja Cat’s “Lose My Mind,” Rosé’s “Messy,” and a snippet of Sheeran’s “Drive” featuring John Mayer on guitar and Dave Grohl on drums.
Directed and produced by Joseph Kosinski alongside co-executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer, F1 stars Pitt as washed-up “greatest that never was” driver Sonny Hayes, who agrees to come out of retirement to help his friend and former teammate Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) save his struggling racing team, Apex Grand Prix. His new teammate, Joshua “Noah” Pearce (Damson Idris), is a rookie upstart with all the raw talent and none of the experience, and the two will battle for the checkered flag in a cutthroat sport where no one shares a podium — much less a championship.
