It was released on February 12, 2020, under the label 4AD as the fifth and final single off of her fifth studio album, Miss Anthropocene.

In an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music's Beats 1, Grimes revealed that "Delete Forever" was written on the night of American rapper Lil Peep's death, while its lyrics were inspired by the death of the singer's friends due to opioid addiction.

[4][5] In an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music's Beats 1, Grimes described "Delete Forever" as a "pretty bummer song [...] about the opioid epidemic".

[7] It depicts the singer in "brightly-colored pigtails and ethereal makeup"[8] playing "a queen looking over her crumbling empire".

[9] Grimes revealed that the video was based on the fourth volume of the Japanese cyberpunk manga Akira, while its setting was created in a 3D modelling program.