The song was written by the band with Bass Drum of Death frontman John Barrett, and it was produced by Jolyon Thomas with Royal Blood.
Royal Blood wrote "Lights Out" while on tour in the United States with support act Bass Drum of Death, who Mike Kerr described as "really good friends of ours".
After the two bands had been sharing ideas, Bass Drum of Death's frontman John Barrett co-wrote "Lights Out", with Kerr crediting him as "a big part of that tune coming together".
[3] Chad Childers of the website Loudwire praised the performance, highlighting frontman Mike Kerr's "muscular groove" and noting that drummer Ben Thatcher "took the spotlight a bit during a mid-song breakdown".
Directed by The Sacred Egg and produced by Tom Birmingham and Natalie Arnett of Riff Raff Films,[5] it features the band "performing the song in an empty room that slowly fills with water", after which "a horde of bodies burst out of invisible pools on the floor, ceiling and walls ... the room is cast in a deep red light and Thatcher and Kerr continue to play in the waist high water as dancers move around them", according to Rolling Stone writer Jon Blistein.