Gracie Abrams announced her second studio album, The Secret of Us, on April 29, 2024, subsequently revealing its cover artwork and release date, June 21, 2024.

Abrams said "Risk" was co-written with her friend Audrey Hobert and co-produced by her frequent collaborator Aaron Dessner, who produced her previous debut studio album, Good Riddance (2023).

[2][3] Abrams teased the music video for "Risk" on April 30, and praised Hobert's direction by saying: "Working together on set and at home on our couch is the most fun I have ever had in my life, she is brilliant in all the ways".

[7] In an interview with American music magazine Spin, Abrams said that she "would spill every detail of our lives in the time that [they] had", referring to the writing process that led her and her friend Audrey Hobert to compose the song.

[8] The lyrics of the track are about a distant type of love,[9] "falling for someone you don't know at all", according to what the singer explained to Apple Music's Zane Lowe.