Songfacts®:

• Sam Smith's debut album In the Lonely Hour was full of songs about unrequited love and loneliness. Three years later the Brit dropped the lead single from his sophomore record, which finds him still singing about failing relationships.
  
  I'm never gonna let you close to me
  Even though you mean the most to me
  'Cause every time I open up, it hurts
  So I'm never gonna get too close to you
  
  Having been hurt in the past, Smith is more wary now and better prepared when that predictable "goodbye" comes. He's now an exit expert.
• In a Radio One interview on its day of release Smith explained that he drew on personal experience for the breakup anthem's lyrics. He said: "This song is about a relationship I was in and it's basically about getting good at getting dumped. It's been a long while since I've put any music out and I feel that this first single sets the tone of what is to come".
• Smith expanded on the personal story that inspired him to write the soulful ballad for Amazon Music Unlimited's Side By Side Experience series:
  
  "This song is - I'll be very open about it - it's about a relationship I was in in 2016. I basically got dumped about three times. And on the third time that everything ended, I had got so good at walking out the door that I kind of knew what to do, and I had a tick box in front of me of all the things I would do to get over this person."
• Speaking to morning show co-host Nina Hajin for Radio.com, Sam Smith explained:
  
  "I was in a relationship, a very short and brief one. I basically got dumped a few times and I kept going back. It was a very tumultuous relationship. Every time I would hit a wall, I just got better and better at saying goodbye, so when it did finally come to an end, I was ready and prepped. I felt like a master of heartbreak at that time, but I still don't know what I'm doing."
  
  "The first thing you do is you drink and go out with your friends and actually try to forget about him and then you sit with yourself and grieve," Smith added about how he recovers from heartbreak. "I think it's so important to sit with yourself and think about what that relationship was, the positives and negatives and sit and live with it for a minute."
• The gospel-tinged heartbreaker was co-written by Smith with:
  
  London producer Jimmy Napes, who collaborated with Smith on half a dozen of the In the Lonely Hour tracks including the hit single "Stay With Me." His other credits include Disclosure's "Latch" and Clean Bandit's "Rather Be."
  
  The Norwegian production duo Stargate, whose numerous hit credits include Rihanna's "Diamonds" and Katy Perry's "Firework." This was the Scandinavian pair's first collaboration with Sam Smith.