"Inner Strength" was an "awesome experience" for Duff, as it was the first time that she and her sister Haylie wrote together. Writing with Haylie was a "specific comfort place" for her at the time, as her life had been changing "so fast and so quickly". According to Duff, "it was kind of scary and a lot of times I felt alone or criticized". Haylie used to write a lot of poetry and when she was 16 she wrote a poem about sweet sixteen. She read it for my family and Duff suggested that they make it into a song, which became "Sweet Sixteen".