Songfacts®:

• This quiet, folk-inspired tune finds Sam Smith justifying how real love is worth it even if it ends in heartbreak. Smith told NME it's his favorite track on The Thrill Of It All.
  
  "It's a love song," he explained. "My heart is a palace and in every single door of the palace there's a room that opens to a past lover, a ghost of my heart. It was about coming to terms with everyone I've ever loved and saying that real love – if that's what we had – is never a waste of time."
• The song was featured in an elaborate iPhone commercial where a woman enters another world as she plays the song in her airpods. She comes back to reality when she dances into a guy in a classic meet cute. She sticks an airpod in his ear, and they both go back to her dream world, where they share snowy adventures thanks to the wireless earpieces.
• "Palace" was written for Smith by "Burning House" country singer/songwriter Cam and her frequent collaborator, producer Tyler Johnson.