Songfacts®:

• This is the first song to be released from Hopelessness, the debut album by Antony Hegarty under her new name of Anohni. She posted the tune along with an accompanying message: "In solidarity with the climate conference in Paris, giving myself a good hard look, not my aspirations but my behaviors, revealing my insidious complicity. It's a whole new world. Let's be brave and tell the truth as much as we can."
• The song title alludes to a December 2013 scientific report that warns unless emissions of greenhouse gases are cut, our planet will heat up by a minimum of 4C by 2100.
• Speaking to a fan site, Anohni said of the song: "I have grown tired of grieving for humanity, and I also thought I was not being entirely honest by pretending that I am not a part of the problem. '4 Degrees' is kind of a brutal attempt to hold myself accountable, not just valorize my intentions but also reflect on the true impact of my behaviors."
• Anohni is very self-critical on this track. She told Mojo: "The song is underscored with intense anger but it's also an exploration of my own complicity. I think a lot about the disparity between the concept of who I am and the reality of my footprint and the sea of denial that exists between those two things. I have to maintain that denial because I'm hooked on this culture."