"Sexy Dirty Love" was written by Demi Lovato, Warren "Oak" Felder, Trevor Brown and William Zaire Simmons for Lovato's sixth studio album, Tell Me You Love Me.
The production was handled by Oak with co-production by "Downtown" Trevor Brown and Zaire Koalo.
[4] Exhibiting influences from 1980s and 1990s musical styles, "Sexy Dirty Love" is a "funky" nu-disco track that has an uptempo danceable rhythm[5][6] and contains elements of "old-school" R&B and electro genres.
[7] Due to its sonority, Mike Wass from Idolator associated the track with Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds album.
[7] Lyrically, it narrates a thoroughly modern romantic encounter initiated via web with Lovato singing about fantasy through the phone in the first verse.