If I Say

Album: Delta (2018)
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Songfacts®:

  • This atmospheric and emotional track came from a dream that keyboardist and synth player Ben Lovett had while in New York. "I went into my bathroom and it on my voice memo at 3 a.m.," he recalled to Zane Lowe's on his Beats 1 show. "I sent it to everyone the next morning and they were like, 'Yep, okay. That's a song.'"
  • The band commented in a video that this was one of the few songs on Delta that was on their setlist before they recorded the album. They added that "it's completely different now to when we toured it," having expanded the tune in size and sound.
  • The song features a string arrangement by British film score composer Sally Herbert, who has worked on movies such as Jean Genet Is Dead and Somehow. She's also collaborated with the Scottish band Travis on several of their songs including "Slideshow," "Battleships" and "Last Words."
  • Lovett's dream came when he was dealing with a divorce from the fashion designer Jemima Janney while also starting a new relationship. "The song questions a lot about commitment and about the power of commitment," he explained to Billboard.

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