Songfacts®:

• Joy Crookes wrote "When You Were Mine" about her first serious boyfriend. After they split up, they remained friends and encouraged each other to explore who they are as people. Her ex moved on to a relationship with another man; Crookes is pleased he found love again but wishes the same for herself.
• Shoulder to shoulder
  Smile with the Brixton shine
  But you weren't that kind when you were mine
  
  Crookes wrote the song with the backdrop of Brixton because that's where their love unfolded and where she spent a lot of her childhood.
• Crookes penned the song with Eg White (Will Young's "Leave Right Now," Adele's "Chasing Pavements") and Jonny Lattimer (Ellie Goulding's "Starry Eyed," Nathan Dawe's "Lighter").
• Producer Blue May added a brass section. They wanted it "to sound messy," Crookes told Apple Music, so they drank lots of Japanese whiskey and listened to lots of Ghanaian artist Ebo Taylor, who has a similar vibe.
• Crookes recorded the song for her debut longplayer Skin, which reached #5 on the UK albums chart.
• This came second in BBC Radio 1's list of Hottest Records of the Year 2021 behind Sam Fender's "Seventeen Going Under."