Songfacts®:

• "Baby Steps" is Olivia Dean's soft, soul-stirred sigh about healing after a breakup. It's about the slow, slightly clumsy process of learning to stand up again, one tender, trembling step at a time.
• One lyric struck a chord with TikTokkers:
  
  Now there's no one to text when the plane lands
  Or to call when it's taking off
  
  Dean's simple observation about missing small moments of connection became an anthem for Gen Z loneliness at a time when people are lonelier than ever. Thousands of users set their own footage to the line, soundtracking their travels or reflections on going it alone.
• "Baby Steps" is the 10th of 12 tracks from Dean's second album, The Art of Loving. The album takes its title and inspiration from bell hooks' book All About Love, which Dean studied while creating the record. The album treats love as a skill, something you can study and eventually master. Across the record, Dean maps out love's full topography: the soft glow of new connection ("Nice To Each Other"), the shimmer of infatuation ("So Easy (To Fall In Love)"), the growing storms of miscommunication ("Loud"), and, finally, the quiet return to self that "Baby Steps" represents.
• Olivia Dean wrote the song with Bastian Langebæk and Max Wolfgang, with Langebæk also serving as producer.
  
  Bastian Langebæk is a songwriter and producer from Copenhagen who splits his time between his native Denmark and London. Langebæk has been a frequent collaborator on Dean's music, including on "Dive" and "It Isn't Perfect But It Might Be." His other work includes Jess Glynne's "All I Am" and Birdy's "Little Blue."
  
  Max Wolfgang (real name Max McElligott) began his career as the frontman of the British alternative rock band Wolf Gang, which released two critically acclaimed major-label albums. After Wolf Gang split in 2015, he transitioned into a songwriter-producer. Wolfgang's breakthrough as a songwriter came with co-writing "Lay It All On Me" by Rudimental featuring Ed Sheeran. He later co-penned Sam Ryder's "Space Man" (with Amy Wadge), which finished second on Eurovision 2022. Like Langebæk, Wolfgang has been a core creative partner for Dean, co-writing seven of The Art of Loving tracks.