Songfacts®:

• Dan Wilson is best known as the frontman for Semisonic, and also as a writer for hit songs by The Chicks ("Not Ready To Make Nice") and Adele ("Someone Like You"). This song he wrote during the coronavirus pandemic, which was extenuating circumstances. The previous year, Wilson gathered Semisonic to release an EP called You're Not Alone, their first new music since 2001.
• Wilson explained the meaning behind this song in a June 2021 post when it was released: "I wrote 'Under the Circumstances' a few months back in a moment of both deep pandemic dread and interpersonal conflict. I was feeling so mad at someone in my life, and I suddenly remembered the dire and bizarre situation we all were trapped in, and I just wanted to make peace with them. And the song came from that."