The song was written after the release of May's second studio album, Love Tattoo, which she was promoting on tour at the time of writing.

The song was recorded during the Mayhem sessions at Embassy Studios, a sixteen track analogue recording studio in a converted cow shed, near Basingstoke, United Kingdom.

Speaking of the writing and production of both the song and the album, May said: "I'm over the moon with how Mayhem has turned out – I hope people enjoy it.

I feel I’ve made the album I wanted that reflects the spectrum of all my influences from music past but is a record firmly in the here & now.

[5][6] Filmed on a similar budget to her previous single "Psycho", the promotional music video for "Mayhem" is centered around the lyrics of the song, which is a story of a recently separated couple.