Hayley Williams, Taylor York, and Zac Farro wrote the song in the early stages of the album's production, and Carlos de la Garza produced it.

After Paramore released their critically acclaimed fifth studio album After Laughter in 2017[1] and cut their fourth world tour short, the band took its first hiatus since its formation in 2004.

[18] She mentioned that focusing on everyday topics prevented her from "getting all deep and dark", but emphasized that exploring those emotions parallels the anxieties many feel about life in 2023 on planet Earth.

[13] Throughout the song, Williams repeatedly sings the line "I ran out of time" as an excuse for failing to perform several personal tasks, such as walking her dog, taking flowers to her neighbor, and sending condolences.

[22] In Sputnik Music, Sowing noted that the lyrics, with lines like "Intentions only get you so far, a harsh reality to discover", address the feeling of being overwhelmed by the desire to improve oneself.

[24] Writing for The New Yorker, Carrie Battan said that the song addresses contemporary anxieties among millennials, such as becoming antisocial and growing older, and is illustrative of a broader cultural turn to nostalgia.

[25] Mary Sikory, in Consequence, linked the song's theme of running out of time to music's nostalgic return to genres that were popular in the early 2000s, like pop-punk and emo.

According to Williams, Swift showed her a closet full of items to give people as gifts, which made her realize "my life is so not together" and "I can barely remember to send someone a card or flowers".

Bobby Olivier in Spin praised the song's theme and lyrics, calling the track "playful" and "an anthem for enemies of punctuality".

[27] Writing for NPR Music, Clarissa Brooks rated the track among the best of the album and said that it explores the post-COVID-19 pandemic cultural milieu in a "refreshing kind of snark[y]" tone.

[30] No Ripcord called the song "sprightly", favorably comparing its "jump[y]", "choppy verses and svelte hooks" to the "shoehorned" sound of the "disaffected sing-speak" and "childish chorus" on "C'est Comme Ça".

[31] Clash also compared the track with "C'est Comme Ça", contrasting Williams' "wonderfully conspicuous staccato vocals" on the latter with "guitarist Taylor York's glitchy anacrusis" on the former.

[32] In Paste, Grant Sharples said that the track "strikes a balance between atmospheric textures and syncopated buoyancy that is, simply put, really fucking fun".

[40][41][42] After entering the dream world through a guitar case, Williams, along with York and Farro, navigate through a colorful and distorted landscape that reflects the anxieties of the song's lyrics.

[40] The band members, whose limbs have grown several feet in length, work through unusual situations and then run on a track in outer space back to the studio.

Lindsey Hartman, the band's stylist, said that Westwood was her and Williams' "ultimate hero" and that they decided to commemorate her when they filmed the music video in 2022, shortly after her death.