The release of "Symptom of Life" was announced via Willow's Instagram account on March 5, 2024, alongside a snippet of the song, which she captioned, "y'all are not ready".

[1] Days before the release of the single, she shared the lyrics to the track, explaining that it could let listeners "deeply digest the words before diving into the whole composition".

[3][6][7] About the visual, she said that it "is for all the beautiful people who have ever gone into nature with their friends & been guided to a deeper understanding of life together by plant medicine".

[9] In an interview with Vogue Australia, Willow stated that the song "came from a very special place", and explained: "Buddha said that life is suffering ... that is definitely true.

[10] Pitchfork's Dylan Green said that the song "best illuminated the next phase in Willow's [sound] evolution", following her experimenting with various music genres throughout her career.