[1] In an interview with Wonderland, Day discussed the experience of creating the song by saying, "Sweet Ophelia happened really fast.

My producers and I were hanging in the studio when I started messing around with this simple riff and floaty verse melody."

[4] The song is characterized as "dreamy", and has a consistent "colossal drum machine beat, atop a contemporary throbbing",[4] supported with "crunchy snares",[5] and "melancholic vocals.

[12] The cover art of the track is of a yellow flower, hovering above the Grand Canyon; an allusion to Day's Arizonan roots, in a horizontal kaleidoscopic view.

[15] Idolator's Carl Williot praises the song by stating, "It's like some mystical California desert chant-turned-love ballad that never tries to pummel the listener or prove its epic might.