Songfacts®:

• "White Mercedes" is an emotional ballad where Charli XCX sings about burning through a relationship and throwing it away.
  
  Like a white Mercedes
  Always been running too fast
  
  Charli keeps returning to her partner but he is unable to keep up with the pop star.
  
  You're chasing after something that you'll never catch
  
  Charli explained to Paper that every time she comes back to the relationship, she becomes "this annoying, hectic person" and the guy ends up getting hurt. The singer acknowledges she's undeserving of his love.
  
• The Colin Solal Cardo and team-directed music video was filmed in Kiev, Ukraine. Charli previously collaborated with Solal Cardo on her Christine & the Queens-featuring track "Gone."
• The stunt-filled video shows the singer performing the track while inside a white Mercedes that is suspended by the rear from a crane. After watching the vehicle go up in flames, Charli then poses with a white horse, and stands atop a white monster truck while fireworks explode in the background.
  
  Charli received some backlash for the scene where jet-black smoke rises into the sky from the burning car. To counter claims that the clip was causing air pollution, she explained it was all the result of movie magic. "Just so everyone is aware the black smoke and heavy fire is made by special effect liquid they use for cinema," the singer tweeted. "The car itself was completely emptied of all its oil and toxic liquids."