Songfacts®:

• Noah Kahan uses the metaphor of a sinking ship in this love song where he looks at dependency in a relationship - it's great to have someone in your life who can rescue you when your ship goes down, but it's best if you can just keep the boat afloat.
  
  Kahan told Music Junkie Press it's about "the familiar feeling of trying to use love as a lifeline. It tells a story of constant change with the hope that love can remain constant."
• "Sink" is one of the first songs Noah Kahan wrote, and it was the one that earned him a record deal. He was just 16 when he wrote it; when he posted it on Soundcloud, it got the attention of Republic Records, which offered him a deal. Around this same time, he got accepted to Tulane University, so he deferred his admission and signed with Republic. In 2017, Republic released "Young Blood" as his first single. It quickly built a following, earning millions of plays on streaming services - that Tulane deferment became indefinite.
  
  Kahan's next single was "Hold It Down," followed by "Sink." Neither did very well but "Sink" was included on his debut album, Busyhead, in 2019. He continued to gain fans, and in 2022 he leveled up with his album Stick Season - the title track exploded on TikTok.
• In a video promoting his Busyhead album, Kahan said, "Your debut record is your life's work, and 'Sink' I wrote when I was 16 years old. It was one of the first songs I wrote that I thought was actually pretty good. I was trying to rip off Ed Sheeran a little bit."