Songfacts®:

• This raw, meditative ballad continues the theme of "Ruin the Friendship" about taking a friendship to a romantic level. Lovato explained during a private album launch event:
  
  "This is a song about wanting the person you want to explore a new relationship with to make that first move or take that next step. It's almost a sequel to 'Ruin the Friendship.' A lot of times that waiting games feels like forever. I was feeling a lot of emotions when I wrote this song. It's about giving someone chances that will last a lifetime."
• Demi wrote "Ruin The Friendship" and "Only Forever" about the same person and it's not her ex, Wilmer Valderrama. Demi even sent a copy of the latter to the song's subject. It turned out that person had written a track about their feelings too.
  
  "Any time you send a song about the person, to the person - it's ballsy. It's like, 'Hey! Here's my feelings for you!'" Lovato confessed to Australian TV show Sunrise. "That person was like, 'That's an incredible song.' And I was like, 'Yeah, well. It's like, Hel-lo!' They had their reasons."
• Many fans speculated on social media that the buddy that Lovato is addressing on this song and "Ruin the Friendship" is Nick Jonas. The pair have been good friends since their Camp Rock movie days and the former Disney pop princess starts off the latter song by crooning: "Put down your cigar and pick me up (pick me up)." (Nick Jonas is known to enjoy smoking cigars.)