Songfacts®:

• This personal ballad finds Lewis Capaldi singing about the aftermath of someone close to him taking their own life. The singer questions whether he could have done something to prevent it.
• When Capaldi was a child, his family were given the shattering news that his mother's sister had killed herself. That tragic event served as inspiration for "Before You Go." The singer explained to Zane Lowe on Beats 1:
  
  "When I was five or six, my aunt committed suicide and I just remember recently speaking to my mom about her feelings. About going through that sort of rigmarole in your head of like, you know, "What could I have done here? Could I have done anything?"
• Lewis Capaldi wrote the rousing acoustic song with:
  
  Phil Plested, formerly of the pop group Chasing Grace. His other credits include Little Mix's 2016 single "Touch."
  
  The London-based songwriting and record production team TMS. This trio of Tom "Froe" Barnes, Ben Kohn and Peter "Merf" Kelleher were behind the early Little Mix hit singles "Wings" and "DNA" plus Jess Glynne's UK chart-topper "Don't Be So Hard On Yourself."
• In a 2020 Songfacts interview, Plested said: "'Before You Go' came when Capaldi had a rare day off from tour. I got invited in to write after penning "Hollywood" with him and I just love everything that his project is about, so I was buzzing to get back in. Lewis is an incredible writer. He came in with the initial idea and we just ran with it, talking about losing loved ones and suicide. The song came from all our hearts I think. It was a special day and I'm so glad the world gets to hear and connect with it now."
• Directed by Kyle Thrash, the poignant video stars Sasha Lane (American Honey, Hellboy) as a sensitive free spirit who commits suicide. During the clip we see some people she left behind celebrate her life. "We cast Sasha Lane, who is just filled with magic, and kept it loose so she could improvise and make it her own," Thrash told Promo News. It was 6 days and 15 locations but I hope we captured some human moments that people can connect and resonate with."
• "Before You Go" reached #1 on both the Pop Songs and Radio Songs charts. The track climbed to the top of Pop Songs in its 37th week on the tally, breaking the record for the longest ascent to the summit since the listing began in 1992.