Songfacts®:

• Hailee Steinfeld sings here about two people who shouldn't be together. Even though their relationship has descended to a "rock bottom" place, they appear unable to let go and move on.
• Originally the only ballad on her Haiz EP, Steinfeld recorded a revamped version featuring Joe Jonas and his band DNCE as the follow-up single to "Love Myself."
  
  Steinfeld told People: "Joe and I were working with the same team of writers and producers around the same time as we were working on our EPs, and we would see each other when one of us was leaving. I guess he heard 'Rock Bottom' in passing and cut a verse on it, and it turned out to be the best thing that happened to the song."
  
  "It felt like it there was a real story told between two people, and that's exactly what I saw when I would hear this song."
• To reach "rock bottom" means the lowest one can get, literally or metaphorically, whereby a person has nothing left to lose. Alcohol and drug abuse are often contributing factors. The expression is of mining origin, and alludes to the layers of bedrock that are reached when the mine is exhausted.
  
  Other artists that have recorded songs about reaching rock bottom include Lynsey de Paul, UFO and Kid Rock.
• Steinfeld said that she empathizes with the turbulent relationship the song describes. "I've experienced that relationship in its entirety," the singer/actress said. "I do feel like there are some songs that really represent a relationship for a relationship, and then when you hear it, you think about that specific relationship, and I have that when I hear 'Rock Bottom.'"
• The music video chronicles the tumultuous relationship of a young couple, played by Hailee Steinfeld and John Economou. The one-time homeless model's cameo came about through her former longtime agent, who now manages Economou, Ashleah Gonzales. "I called her and said, 'I'm doing this video. I'm looking for a guy.' I met with a couple of guys, and I met John, and he was so great," said Steinfeld. "He had such a cool story and he had so much to talk about, and he's a very handsome boy, so we knew pretty quickly he was The One."