Songfacts®:

• British singer-songwriter Jade Bird headed to New York's Catskill Mountains and Woodstock to record her debut release, the five-song EP Something American. This folksy, guitar-helmed track follows a barside conversation between Bird and an ex, which includes elements taken directly from real-life events.
  
  You used to tell me
  Love is a lottery, but
  You've got your numbers
  And you're betting on me
  
  Bird explained the story behind the song to The Boot:
  
  "It came out of a conversation - well, the words to the title came out of a conversation, and what really inspired the concept were those words.
  
  I had this grand image in my head: I loved the word, and I tried to make the verses super-personal. One of them was based on a cafe in London where me and my ex sat down and actually had that exact same conversation as in the song. That's how it came about."
• Bird wrote the song alongside producer Simone Felice (formerly of The Felice Brothers). Rolling Stone reports she affectionately calls Felice, "a hippie with a really cool vibe."
• Released as the lead single from Something American, "Lottery" climbed all the way to #1 on Billboard's Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart.