Songfacts®:

• Furtado penned this song with San Francisco-based songwriter Rick Nowels around the time of the Libyan revolution and civil war. She explained to Artist Direct: "I was inspired by the rebels and the idea of people having to make really tough decisions in the eleventh hour. I was inspired by the idea of a young man or woman going into battle with one of their close friends. By the time the day is over, their friend has turned to the other side. That dilemma is something we could never imagine in the lives we lead. I found it inspiring people were going through those kinds of emotions the moment I wrote that song, so that's what I wrote it about."
• Bob Rock produced the song. The Canadian record producer is best known for his work with such rock bands as Metallica. Furtado told Artist Direct: "I've admired his work for a long time. I wasn't sure if he worked with a whole lot of pop artists until I bought Michael Bublé's Christmas album, Christmas, and I realized that he produced my favorite tracks. That's when I reached out. He was so kind, nice, and not intimidating at all."
• Furtado admitted to Billboard magazine that she had doubts about calling the song, 'Arab Spring.' "Maybe it's too specific," she said, "but I'm thinking you know what? I'm gonna call it that because that's what it was inspired by. I mean, at the time Rick Nowels came to Toronto; we write together all the time and he's awesome. It was actually not too long after that whole thing [Libyan uprising] happened," she added. "At one point, I wanted to call it 'Benghazi' because specifically in Libya, the Libyan rebels. I remember watching it on the news and reading newspaper articles and just feeling really inspired by that and also incredibly overwhelmed by the fact that there were these people halfway across the world dealing with these major decisions of 'I'm going to battle here.' We've never experienced a civil war. I can't name somebody who has experienced that. I don't know anyone."