Songfacts®:

• This was released as the second single of English R&B singer and former Floetry member Marsha Ambrosius' debut solo album, Late Night and Early Mornings. Produced by New Jersey beatsmith Just Blaze, it was written by Marsha Ambrosius together with American R&B singer songwriter Sterling Simms.
• Ambrosius initially wrote the song after a close friend attempted suicide. "Because they're in such a bad place in their lives, there's nothing you can do to help someone if they can't help themselves," she said in an interview with The Associated Press.
• Ambrosius has a strong gay following and the song's music video tackles homophobia and suicide. She told the Associated Press: "I lost a friend and I've had friends that have attempted suicide. There are people that don't have a voice to speak out and show what is happening and what can happen, so I just wanted people to see the honesty in it and be aware."
• Ambrosius told MTV News that crafting the song gave her an opportunity to empower people like her friend who are struggling with abusive situations related to their sexuality. "The concept for 'Far Away' definitely wasn't unexpected for me as it was a personal experience that I'd had in writing the song. It came from a personal experience I was going through 'round about the time I wrote it, which is 2008, [when] a friend of mine attempted to commit suicide," she explained. "Being a friend of someone that is in such a dark place, you can't be there for them as a friend because it's one of the most heart-wrenching things you can go through, not being able to help someone.
  
  So a couple years later I get to do 'Far Away' for my album, and it felt only right to portray the story as it was in such an honest form. And I think many people that go through the same circumstance don't get to tell their story. And I think that's where, I guess, people are getting with the shock value; that I'm attacking a subject matter that's often shunned upon and overlooked. But it's happening to real people — it happened to a friend of mine — and I wanted to give that to those that don't have that voice."