Much of the band's activities had been put on hold since their 2013 album, My Shame Is True, which had primarily been due to Skiba becoming lead guitarist and vocalist for Blink-182.
- Matt Skiba[3]The name of the song comes from the film, Public Enemies, in which John Dillinger refers to his love interest, Billie Frechette as his "blackbird".
[1] Billboard's Connor Whittum called the song "fast paced" and "guitar heavy".
praised the lyrics, calling them "haunting, but as usual, there is a dark sense of humour at work here, too".
[5] Ryan Wyness of PunkNews compared it to the band's 2003 album, Good Mourning, feeling that it shared "the same dark, macabre aura".