Songfacts®:

• Alt-J are noted for their postmodern lyrics, which range from tales of 20th century war photographers to a Tasmanian Devil's unrequited love. This song is more straightforward, simply about enjoying summer holidays and festivals.
  
  "It's about being at a festival with your best friends, having a good time, togetherness, and the feeling in life that nothing could be any better than it is right now," said keyboardist Gus Unger-Hamilton.
• This was the first track Alt-J worked on and recorded for their The Dream album. Frontman Joe Newman told BBC Radio 1's Future Sounds the band first developed it during soundchecks for their shows but then forgot all about it. When they asked their front-of-house engineer, Lance Reynolds, to send over the recordings of their soundtracked jams, they rediscovered this tune.
  
  Newman recalled listening again to the forgotten jam as if it was "almost like someone else's song."
  
  Alt-J took the jam, and after two days writing came up with "U&Me," which they imbued with a "fun loving '90s spirit."
• Alt-J recorded the song with their producer Charlie Andrew, who has worked with the band since their debut album. In 2016, Andrew won the Brit Award for British Producer of the Year.
• Alt-J released "U&ME" as a single on September 22, 2021. They explained in their fan newsletter that because it was the first track they worked on for The Dream, "It felt right to be the one we share with you first."
• Prosper Unger-Hamilton, the brother of band member Gus, directed the music video. The clip documents the day Alt-J sold their souls to reach new heights at the skate park. It is the first official Alt-J video in which the band members have taken the lead role, having only made small cameos in their previous releases.
  
  Joe Newman said of the video: "We normally shy away from the camera, and I think this was an opportunity for us to embrace the camera and Gus came up with an idea which was, we go from not knowing how to skate to then becoming quite proficient skaters to then becoming professional skaters, and it was a lot of fun."
• "U&ME" climbed to #1 on Adult Alternative Airplay, giving Alt-J their first leader on any Billboard song chart.