Songfacts®:

• This sparkling electro-pop tune is centred on Conan Gray's struggles to connect with his alcoholic romantic interest – "real sweet but I wish you were sober." According to Gray's own explanation on an Apple Music track by track, he wrote the song about an individual he "really, really liked." However, this person found it difficult to say whether they liked him back, unless they were totally inebriated.
  
  Gray added: "It was a weird, bittersweet feeling, because on one side you're thinking, 'Yay, they like me and they have feelings for me and they like me back.' On the other side you're thinking, 'Why can't you tell me this when you're sober? Why can't you tell me this in daylight?'"
• Speaking to Beats 1's Zane Lowe about "I Wish You Were Sober," Gray said: "This song is for when your crush on someone goes unbelievably wrong and you want to dance your pain away. It sounds like a fun song that you would scream in the car, but if you actually listen to the lyric, it's very depressing. Like me."
• Gray wrote "I Wish You Were Sober" with American producer and songwriter Dan Nigro, who also handled the song's production.
  
  Nigro's other credits include Kimbra's "Cameo Lover," Sky Ferreria's "I Blame Myself" and Freya Ridings' "Castles."