The idea for the song "World on Fire" came during a songwriting session among Nate Smith, Ashley Gorley, Lindsay Rimes, and Taylor Phillips.

Smith, meanwhile, was inspired to build on the idea as he remembered the Camp Fire, a wildfire that affected his hometown of Paradise, California, in 2018.

As Smith had already submitted the master tracks for his album to his label, he could not add the song without overriding pre-sale sales figures.

[2] The song reached number 21 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and became Smith's second number-one hit on the Country Airplay chart for the week of December 23, 2023, spending ten consecutive weeks there until it was dethroned by Warren Zeiders's "Pretty Little Poison" on the chart dated March 2, 2024.

[3] In December 2024, Billboard Year-End declared "World on Fire" the number 1 song of the year on Country Airplay.