Songfacts®:

• This song finds James Blake at his most self-depreciating as he sings of accepting his place in the universe.
  
  I'm okay with the life of the sunflower
  And I'm okay with the life of a meteor shower
  So, say what you will
  Go on, say what you will
  
  Having put on his social blinkers, Blake no longer compares himself with others. He told Apple Music: "'Say What You Will' is about finding peace with who you are and what you are regardless of how other people seem to be doing."
• Blake co-wrote and co-produced the song with Dominic Maker of the electronic music duo Mount Kimbie. The pair first worked together when Blake featured on Mount Kimbie's 2017 single "We Go Home Together." Maker then co-produced nine of the tracks on Blake's 2019 album Assume Form.
  
  Josh Stadlen and the singer's girlfriend, Jameela Jamil, also get credited as co-producers.
• Blake first unveiled the track to fans in one of his several intimate livestream performances on Instagram Live in April 2020. He released "Say What You Will" as the lead single from Friends That Break Your Heart on July 22, 2021. "It's my favorite song I've written in a long time," Blake said. "I love singing it, and I love the new direction. To me this more a Leonard Cohen-style song - there's a lyrical focus to it."
• Billie Eilish's producer-brother Finneas stars in the tender and amusing music video, which highlights the song's message of being comfortable in your own skin. "It's quite funny that this song is about comparison and the person in the video who I'm jealous of is genuinely huge in real life," Blake told Apple Music. "It can be difficult as an artist to keep your head above water when you're comparing yourself to other artists. It kills creativity. I've struggled with that and met people who I've desperately wanted to be like. If you're struggling: Switch off the channels. Mute their posts. You don't even have to let them know you hate them! It's wonderful!"
• Blake has a previous Finneas connection. Back in December 2020, he took on Billie Eilish's "When The Party's Over" for his Covers EP. Finneas wrote that song after ending a relationship.
• Jameela Jamil came up with the video's concept. "Jameela and I were talking about the meaning of the song and she said, all your videos have been beautiful but there isn't one that tells the story of the song in a narrative way, extending the meaning of the song," Blake told Teeth. "So she came up with the idea of this nemesis, who does everything better, has more Grammys, and whatever."
• "Say What You Will" reflects Blake's own experience observing other people doing better on paper, and not realizing at the time what talent he had and what he could do with it. "Anytime the source of your self-esteem and your creativity is outside of yourself, you are on the wrong path and that's where I ended up," he told Teeth. "Having a journey away from it led to the song that led to the video."