Songfacts®:

• Written by Jorja Smith at the age of 16, this song is about a friend of hers who has passed away.
  
  If you didn't say your goodbyes
  Don't worry, love will power through
  'Cause they're never coming back down
  They belong to the stars in the clouds
  
  Smith told Genius she penned the tune for someone who knew her late friend well. This girl was upset as she'd never messaged their mutual pal back before he passed away. The songstress was telling her, "Look, you can't always say goodbye to someone. You can't look at the world like people are always going to go."
• Jorja Smith wrote the song with London-based producer Ed Thomas. The pair also collaborated on her her UK Top 40 single "Let Me Down."
  
  Smith told Genius it was one of her first sessions she did when she used to come up to London from her home town of Walsall in the school holidays. She told Thomas the story, and they wrote the song to guitar.
  
  "I just sing and think of melodies, and then some words come with it," Smith said of her collaborations with Thomas. "Then, we go back to the melodies that I've recorded, like scratched down, and then write to that."
• After writing the song Smith sent it her upset friend straight away. She was apparently very happy with it.
• Lit by fire lanterns, the song's tender music video features Smith singing "Goodbyes" as the camera zooms in and out on her face. The clip was shot on VHS by Jorja's longtime collaborator Rashid Babiker ("On Your Own" and "Teenage Fantasy"), and was filmed at the singer's house.
  
  Speaking of the song and video, Jorja said: "'Goodbyes' is a song for anyone who has not been able to say their last words - to say goodbye to someone. Rashid and I filmed the video at home. I just sang as I wanted to create a homely feel. Then me and my friends set off fire lanterns for the people we miss."