Songfacts®:

• "October Passed Me By" is the sequel to Girl In Red's 2018 breakthrough single "We Fell in Love In October." It finds the Norwegian singer-songwriter reflecting on the relationship that inspired the latter song.
• The relationship Girl In Red sings about was the first time she fell in love with another girl. The two first got together in October, and initially she centered her whole life on her girlfriend. Then things became bitter between them and they fell apart. However, Girl In Red never fully let go of her ex and every now and then she rereads their love letters that she secretly stashed away. As time passes, she becomes more indifferent, and the Norwegian singer is surprised that the last October anniversary of their first meeting passed by without her feeling anything.
  
  On the outro, Girl In Red looks back with fond memories of their time together.
  
  "'October Passed Me By' is where I'm at today, emotionally and musically," she said. "Grateful for what has been, and full of love for a very special person that made a huge impact on me as a person."
• Every fall since Girl In Red released "We Fell In Love In October," her fans have encouraged her to talk about the song again on social media. "Making TikToks, Instagram posts and other things about a song I made years ago never felt honest. I'm not in the same place as I was when I wrote the song, emotionally or artistically, so pretending to be so felt boring and uninteresting," she said. "So, I never did any of that."
  
  In 2021, something happened in her personal love life that brought up a lot of feelings that she needed to confront internally. That's what prompted her to put pen to paper and write this song.
• Girl In Red co-wrote and co-produced "October Passed Me By" with The National's Aaron Dessner, who was Taylor Swift's principal collaborator on her Folklore and Evermore albums. Ulven already had the song written when she reached out to the writer/producer. "I told him I had this song that I had written and wanted to make but I hadn't started recording it yet," Girl In Red recalled. "I had never worked with him, so for me it felt like an interesting and also low key thing to try out. I finished writing the song in Oslo and LA, working remotely with Aaron and with my great friend Matias Tellez on mix."
• Girl In Red released a short film to accompany the song shot by Stockholm-based director Gustav Johansson.