The song was released as a digital download on 27 August 2020 as the lead single from her fifth studio album The Human Demands.

[...] It explores all the same themes of life and wondering if you’ve made the right decisions and taken the right path but it feels like it means so much more to me because of everything that has happened through these years.

I was sat at my dining room table with my friend Matt and he had played me a musical idea and the lyrics came to me without even thinking about it.

[6] "The Hudson" was released as the lead single from Macdonald's fifth studio album The Human Demands (2020) on 27 August 2020.

The song has been described as "bringing that signature Amy Macdonald sound and flare that we all know and love the forefront however there’s maturity to it this time around that I don’t think we’ve seen before".

[7] The Scotsman said that "The Hudson" "hits a richer seam", claiming that "it’s a wistful look back at wilder days from the ambivalent perspective of a settled thirtysomething and mines some of Lana Del Rey’s nostalgic je ne sais quoi".