Songfacts®:

• Originally released as a solo single in 2016, Miguel enlisted the help of rapper J. Cole and producer Salaam Remi for a new version recorded for War and Leisure. Miguel told Beats 1 host Zane Lowe that partnering with the Dreamville artist made perfect sense.
  
  "We were kind of listening to the album and going through and trying to understand what we could add was tasteful but didn't really dilute it too much," he said. "Cole is always the perfect person to collaborate with."
• Miguel previously joined forces with J. Cole when the North Carolina rapper supplied guest vocals on the title track of the Los Angeles singer's debut album. Three years later Miguel returned the compliment when he joined Cole on the Dreamville artist's Born Sinner lead single "Power Trip."
• The song was recorded with Salaam Remi at the producer's house in Miami. Miguel recalled to Genius:
  
  "It was my last day in Miami, and I wanted to get out, 'cause nothing was really coming easy. He was like, 'Man, just chill. We'll order up plantains.' He has mango trees. 'We'll get the mango's poppin'.' We got some mangoes, just vibed. He's like,'Don't worry about it, we'll order some Jamaican, get the jerk poppin' and just vibe downstairs.'
  
  We went downstairs, he gets on the drums, and I'm playing guitar and we're just jamming. It just felt like I was playing the way it was feeling that day. It felt really dreary. I felt like, 'Man, this is kinda one of those days where I'm just like I don't really have no energy. Clouds is out. I just wanna smoke right now and just watch a really dope film.' It would be great to have company, that kind of vibe. When you're feeling that you really want your company, somebody to really console you. I'm calling my girl.
  
  Then he's like, 'Just talk. How do you feel? Just talk.' He just kept saying that, 'just talk.' I'm like, 'Nigga, I don't have anything to say.' There's nothing coming. He's like, 'Here.' He gives me the mic, we loop the guitar that I've been playing for 15 minutes with nothing coming to my brain. 'Hello stranger, it's been a minute' was the first thing that came out. And the rest of it is just really a freestyle. Even, 'Usually I don't do this often.' I'm being repetitive because I'm just free styling. I'm not thinking about it. I'm just going with whatever's coming. That's pretty much how it all came about. It was really a rainy day and... Just telling a story, yeah. Perfect for the Netflix and Chill Mix."