The song was officially serviced to US modern rock radio in October 1997 and was given a commercial release outside North America the following month.

"3AM" was written by Rob Thomas, Jay Stanley, John Leslie Goff, and Brian Yale while performing together in the early 1990s band Tabitha's Secret.

[2] In 1997, after the other members of Tabitha's Secret left to form Matchbox 20, Goff and Stanley released other early recordings of the band, including "3 AM", on Don't Play with Matches.

During the third verse, a Pontiac Trans Am with a bare-chested man and a woman inside stops in front of Thomas.

Finally, during the last two choruses, the band is shown playing their instruments (presumably in the lobby of a hotel or office building) as rain can be seen falling from a large window behind them.