Songfacts®:

• This song finds Matthew Healy yearning for a girl, but his love for her is unrequited, leading to frustration on his part.
  
  And it's been replaying on my mind
  Unfortunately, I've been to this place in my life
  Far too many times
  Sunday's nearly over, so I'll just lie awake
  Tonight, I wish I was your boy
  
  Healy has been lying awake imagining being together with his crush but his dream relationship isn't based on reality.
• The song starts off with a sped-up sample of The Temptations' #1 hit, "Just My Imagination." The classic 1971 tune is about a guy smitten with a perfect girl, but they're only together in his dreams. The reference at the beginning of "Tonight" sets up the idea of Healy being attracted to a girl with whom there's no chance of a romantic involvement. The singer told Apple Music it reminds him of Kanye West's early production.
• Speaking with Apple Music, Healy said he's not sure where this "late '90s pop song" came from. "It reminds me of all the kind of proper pop music that I grew up listening to, like Backstreet Boys," he added. "And it's like an ode to early Max Martin, late '90s pop. I don't think we ever do anything retro. We never do anything pastiche-y. But there's definitely a reflection on a certain time of our musical upbringing. And that was very much part of that."
• The 1975 wrote the song with the London-based Filipino musician Rome Gomez, better known by his stage name No Rome. Familiar to fans of The 1975 for his co-write on "TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME" and collaborative single "Narcissist," No Rome is a Matty Healy protégé.
• The 1975 performed "Tonight (I Wish I Was Your Boy)" live for the first time during an 18-song set on August 21, 2022 at Maishima Sonic Park in Osaka, Japan. The concert was the second of the two shows they played as part of the Japanese Summer Sonic Festival.