It was written by Cabello with Bibi Bourelly and Jesse Shatkin, who also produced, recorded and programmed the track.

It was the first song she wrote for her debut album, inspiring the direction of the project that was then called The Hurting.

Its dark production features a prominent cello line and drum machine beats that begin after the second chorus.

Cabello collaborated as a member of the group for three years, releasing two studio albums, an extended play and eight singles.

According to Nielsen Soundscan, the group had sold more than seven million digital downloads in the United States before her departure in December 2016.

[2][3] While touring to promote their second album 7/27 (2016), Cabello felt lonely and sad and wrote songs to express her feelings and to help her to get negative things "off her chest".

"In an interview with Latina magazine, she commented on her decision to leave Fifth Harmony and her future plans saying: "I needed to follow my heart and my artistic vision.

The results inspired Cabello to keep writing songs where she could express her feelings, making music that was helping her to "heal".

[10] In interview with Zane Lowe for Beats 1, Cabello explained that she no longer felt those songs represented the artist she had become.

As the song opens, she airs out her feelings in the first verse, over a soft cello line, "Why did you leave me here to burn?

/ I'm way too young to be this hurt / I feel doomed in hotel rooms / Staring straight up at the wall / Counting wounds and I am trying to numb them all / Do you care?

[20] Lucas Villa from AXS noted that instead of "staying a victim", Cabello expresses herself as a "survivor on this haunting and honest interrogation session".

[20] Mike Pell of MTV News felt that the song's production recalls Britney Spears' "Everytime" (2004).

[21] Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone magazine, described it as "brooding" and praised its stripped-down production,[22] while Taylor Weatherby of Billboard characterized it as "poignant".