Songfacts®:

• James Bay first started dating Lucy Smith when they were teenagers in the Hertfordshire town of Hitchin. Thirteen years later, Bay wrote and recorded this song inspired by his relationship with his long-term girlfriend.
• Here, Bay sings of his desire to pour out his love to Lucy.
  
  What would it feel like if you tore me apart?
  Come on, chew on my heart
  
  The unconventional title is a metaphor for wanting and craving more and more of someone's love. "Kind of like, 'Let's like hold each other tight and then hold each other tighter,'" he explained to the BBC.
• Asked by the BBC if the song met Lucy's approval, Bay replied that she loved it, which is rare as she's usually going, "'Oh, you're still sticking with that melody, are you?"
• Bay released "Chew On My Heart" as the lead single from his third album. The English singer's previous material tended to be rooted in a sort of communal sadness; "Hold Back The River," for instance, is about missing friends and family, and "Let It Go" concerns leaving the people who mean the most. However, this celebration of a relationship is much more positive and personal in style and marks a change of emphasis.
  
  Bay explained to NME he wanted the record to be a tribute to his journey with Lucy. "When I started writing this album, I went back to my usual well of sadness and heartbreaks... it wasn't that it was dry or that it was an empty well or anything - I just couldn't get inspired there this time," he said. "I discovered that what I wanted to say was more of a celebration of a long journey I've been on - and that I'm still on - with somebody and that's something I want to sort of shout about in these next group of songs."
• James Bay performed "Chew On My Heart" inside the London Eye for The Late Late Show with James Corden. Bay admitted to being petrified of heights, saying, "We were filming for an hour. I spent much of it trying to stop my legs wobbling when I looked down!" The August 25, 2020 appearance marked Bay's late-night television debut of the song.