Songfacts®:

• In "The Pretender," Lewis Capaldi explores themes of self-doubt and identity as he reflects on his own struggles. He adapts and molds himself into various personas depending on the circumstances he encounters.
  
  I'm the pretender, what can I tell ya?
  Designed to deceive
  So, tell me who you want me to be
  
  Capaldi embodies a character that aligns with the expectations of those in his surroundings. His desire to satisfy others stems from his intention to conceal his authentic self. "I do have to put on a face, you know?" he told The Independent. "This is a public-facing job. Sometimes you're going to have to go out and say everything's great when you don't necessarily feel that way. We all do, don't we?"
• Capaldi has moments when he doesn't understand why such songs as "Someone You Loved" did so well.
  
  To tell you the truth, I'm the fraud in the room
  And I know that
  But you never will
  
  Capaldi is talking about the feeling he has with imposter syndrome. "Speaking to people like Elton John and Ed Sheeran, it's interesting to hear people at all levels of their careers who've felt like they're not good enough for something, or friends of mine who've been promoted recently who didn't feel worthy," he told Apple Music. "I thought that was an interesting concept to explore."
• Capaldi wrote the song in Scotland on a piano loaned from Yamaha. "It was the first time I had an upright piano in my house, and I wrote quite a lot on it," he said. "'The Pretender' sort of came from that."
• Capaldi penned "The Pretender" with previous collaborators Phil Plested ("Before You Go," "Forget Me"), and Nick Atkinson and Edd Holloway ("Grace," "Maybe").