The track was previously included on Oleander's eponymous EP in 1996 and their independent LP, Shrinking the Blob, in 1997.

Lyrically, "Why I'm Here" describes people's vague resentment toward the narrator as well his/her indifference toward a significant other, singing "I can't love you anymore/I'm scared of the sound of it."

AllMusic's Heather Phares named "Why I'm Here" one of three AMG Album Picks in her review of February Son.

Club viewed the song more negatively, regarded Oleander as "[arriving] too late for grunge and too early for emo."

He elaborated that "the band gamely struggles to justify its existence to major-label masters who can hear something marketable, but can't figure out who'd want to buy it.