Songfacts®:

• Alisa Amador can be hard on herself, particularly when it comes to her songwriting. In "Heartless Author," she puts her inner critic aside and gives herself permission to be who she is without judgment. "I love it because it acknowledges all of the uncertainties and pain of life, and it shines compassion on all of it," she said of the song.
• Amador is joined on this one by Madison Cunningham, who adds guitar and vocals. Amador was very excited to work with her.
  
  "Saying that Madison Cunningham is coming into the studio, you might as well tell me that Beyoncé is coming in to be part of my band," she said in a Songfacts interview. "That is overwhelming to me in so many ways. It's great and terrifying. She's so great."
  
  "She's very real, and very polite and then she just goes into the studio and shreds," she added. "I was so amazed because in the studio, it was like, This song would sound really good with harmonies. Maddie, do you want to hop on this? She was reading the lyrics from a Google document on her phone and learning the song right then and there, and I felt she understood the song from the beginning. It was so cool to see someone learn that quickly and get themselves to a performance."
• Amador wrote this song with Zia, her twin brother. The Amadors are a musical family; Alisa and Zias parents had a band called Sol Y Canto.
• Amador included this song on her debut album, Multitudes. The album title is an expression of the various sides of her, musically and personally. Amador is bilingual; half of the songs on the album are in English, the other half in Spanish.