Songfacts®:

• For centuries, humankind has attempted to concoct love potions, drinks that create feelings of attraction in the one who drinks it. The ancient Greeks considered wine to be the most basic love potion, as the right amount would lead to sexual arousal. By the 13th century, the church had become concerned about the proliferation of sorcery practicing witch-like women who used pagan techniques to prepare injurious love potions.
  
  Modern songwriters have played around with these passion potions. Leiber & Stoller's "Love Potion #9," for instance, describes an aphrodisiac that causes the singer to fall in love with everything he sees. Here, Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa describe their potion for love.
  
  Late night conversations
  Electric emotions
  Sprinkled with a little bit of sex
  And it's a potion
  
  Harris and Lipa don't need to mix up an aphrodisiac to create passion. For them it's all about setting the right mood.
• Harris and Lipa previously worked together on the UK #1 "One Kiss." With "Potion," Harris wanted to recreate the recipe for their 2018 hit single. "I think the vocal for 'One Kiss' is the best for me that she's ever sounded," he told Zane Lowe on Apple Music. "So I wanted to just like, I wanted to just recreate that, but right for this record."
• The song also features Young Thug. In his verse, the Atlanta rapper maintains his image of a playa that isn't looking for a steady relationship. He prefers casual hookups; Thugger's claim that he can't choose between 15 million women shows he doesn't need any love potion.
• Harris previously worked with Young Thug in 2017 on the Funk Wav Bounces track "Heatstroke," which also features Ariana Grande and Pharrell Williams. "There was only one person I wanted on this," Harris told Zane Lowe. "And we chased him for a while. It's the voice but it's the delivery as well and how does he think of these things and these flows and the way that he kind of weaves around the beat in a way that I could never, ever even imagine."
• Harris, Lipa and Thug co-wrote the song with two Canadians: singer-songwriter Jessie Reyez and producer and songwriter Maneesh Bidaye. Reyez also co-wrote "One Kiss," while Bidaye has co-produced several Drake cuts, including "Charged Up" and "Keep the Family Close."