Songfacts®:

• This started off as a demo that Joff Oddie made on his phone. The Wolf Alice guitarist told vocalist Edie Rowsell that he wrote the lyrics about the novel The Virgin Suicides, so when she wrote some additional words for the song she kept that in mind.
• The 1993 debut novel by American writer Jeffrey Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides tells the tragic fictional story of the five doomed Lisbon sisters. It was adapted into a critically acclaimed film six years later by director Sofia Coppola. The Manic Street Preachers track "Doors Closing Slowly" features an audio clip from the movie.
• The song's animated video follows a man attempting to cheer up a constantly sad woman. The clip was directed by Irish animated studio Eat The Danger, who also created Courtney Barnett's "Dead Fox" visual.