"Play Hard" is a song by French DJ and record producer David Guetta, featuring vocals from singers Ne-Yo and Akon, from the re-release of Guetta's fifth studio album, Nothing but the Beat. This is the second collaboration between David Guetta and Akon since Sexy Chick in 2009. All three artists co-wrote the song with Frédéric Riesterer and Giorgio Tuinfort, both of whom produced the song with Guetta. Akon's vocals were written and recorded at Sonic Vista Studios in Ibiza in July 2012.[citation needed] The song samples the 1999 Eurodance song "Better Off Alone" by Alice Deejay and "In my Dreams (XXL Remix)" by Noemi. "Play Hard" peaked at number six on the UK Singles Chart, thus becoming his fourteenth top 10 hit in the UK as a lead artist. It also charted within the top 40 of the charts in several other countries.
Guetta reported on Twitter shortly before the release that he planned to release an edited version of "Play Hard" as the next single from Nothing but the Beat 2.0 for a long while, which would make it the tenth single from Nothing but the Beat.[3] This version never came to fruition, however.