Songfacts®:

• This is the lead single from The Boxer, the debut solo album by Kele Okereke, the lead singer of indie rock band Bloc Party. For the disc he ditched his Okereke surname and went with a more dance/electro sound.
• The song is propelled by a dance beat and metallic percussion and reflects Okerke's love of dance culture. He told Billboard Magazine that it represents the most hard core dance track on the album. Said Okereke: "I go dancing and I've always enjoyed going to clubs. I've always been vocal about that even at the beginning of Bloc Party. The biggest inspiration came from the fact that I've been DJ'ing a lot more in the past few years, and I've really had to immerse myself in DJ culture. (Lead single) 'Tenderoni' is the only song that is really ready for the dance floor. All the other tracks, they use sounds and textures that people from the dance world would recognize, (but) I don't really think it's a dance record. It's a pop record. It's songs your mum could like, if she likes to go out raving."
• "Tenderoni" is slang terminology used to describe a younger male or female love interest. Cassell's Dictionary of Slang defines it as meaning "a sweet young girl." The word is sometimes used for someone who is younger than the legal age of consent for sexual activity, but physically mature enough to be taken for an adult.
• Other uses of the word "Tenderoni" in popular music include:
  
  Michael Jackson on his 1983 hit "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" - "...Tenderoni you've got to be / Spark my nature, sugar fly with me…"
  
  Lil Wayne on his 2009 single "Da Da Da" - "...Well I can be your hubby, oh your only tenderoni…"
  
  Bobby Brown's 1988 song "Roni." - "And if you find a tenderoni that is right for you. Make it official, give her your love."
• Kele told NME regarding the tracks on The Boxer: "All the songs are about being lost and then being found. All the songs are about a period of darkness and then a period of positivity and light."
• This song, like several others on The Boxer, is about rejecting a situation that is not good for you. Kele explained to The Sun that it concerns, "having the hots for someone a bit too young to you."