Grace described the song as
“a romanticized justification in pursuit of avoiding the truth at all cost—‘this isn’t real’… There’s also a sense of desperation; this is this precious thing that I must control and hide; we binge our love at night. .. Call it what you want is a story between two people in denial. A romanticized justification in pursuit of avoiding the truth at all cost 'this isn't real'...There's also a sense of desperation, this is this precious thing that I must control and hide, we binge our love at night.”
About the song and its origins
Grace dug deeper into the origin and meaning of the song in an interview with Travis Mills on Apple Music.
There were a few songs that I didn’t really feel belonged in the storyline of the album, and Call It What You Want was one of those. [Grace explains that there are two songs on the album that work well on their own, the other ones have to be heard in context]. Call It What You Want is romantic, it is a relationship song, but I liked it enough for it still to be on the album. And it had been a while since I had released anything and I liked this as a good re-introduction. This song did actually not come easy [Travis: in the song, you say, ‘break my finger if I don’t keep my word’?] That actually had to do with the album. I had the album in mind, I was writing it, but having terrible writer’s block that day, so I wasn't trying to force anything, So when that song started rolling, I did not try to force it into a box [the concept for the album]. And this song was a brat. I wrote it line by line, which I normally don’t do. I am very much a RIF person – keep the beat on loop and then add-lib it, and then listen back, and then – that was literally a bar. This was not that song; we were line-for-line brainstorming.
I like that there is a childlike innocence to this song, but it’s slightly sexual. It’s a song about a one-night stand affair, but there is this whimsical, innocent aspect of it where you are trying to justify it – it could be a one-night stand, but it could also be an explosion of love. Have you ever been with someone where it’s not even physical, but it’s still dirty like that? But you still wake up the next day and feel like it was almost an emotional one-night stand? And really feeling like soulmates at this moment. I liked the juxtaposition of the innocence and the gruesomeness of breaking the pinky promise – the double-edged sword of the situation itself; it’s like a pinky promise, but you’ll cut it off.(interview with Travis Mills, posted online on
16 Oct 2024)
She gave a slightly different take when she sang the song live for the first time at the Grammy Museum in late November 2024:
"I wrote it about someone in my life – a situationship. I wanted it to be like – I love you and you love me and I love you so much that I am willing to deal with whatever commitment issues that is going on up there. Let’s just ignoire it, I don’t want to loose you. Wheter that is respecting me or not, I don’t know. But I like you, and I am willing to un-dignify myself in that way."
About the music video
In an
interview with Eric Alper on SiriusXM, Grace explained how she had followed her usual process of being very involved in the concept for the music video for “Call It What You Want” but had let her new label, Pulse be much more involved in the creative side on “What’s Left of Me”.
I just recently started collaborating with Pulse, and I wanted to like grant them this space. At times, I limit my collaboration with the creative people around me, and I think I am learning that there has to be an equal balance. I was just presented with this idea of like paintings come to life, a series of different scenes that are kind of paintingesque.”
Co-writer Samuel Gerhart on writing with Grace
Her co-writer and producer of the song, John Samuel Gerthart wrote on
Instagram:
My favorite songwriting tends to come from one on one days, being vulnerable and personal and making something the two of think is important, is beautiful. Grace is a force, a vessel for art to move through and I’m very fortunate to have been apart of this next age of her story. Grace, you’re a gift to music. Theres something uniquely human about being desperate. Desperate to know someone, to have them there with you, no matter the terms or the conditions. It’s a brave thing to leave your heart is someone’s hands like that, but love compels us to be brave. Call it what you want ❤️"
From
John Samuels's Instagram, it appears that he was employed by Simon Cowell's joint venture with Universal Music Group
"SYCO Publishing" at the time he produced the song with Grace. SYCO Publishing also owns parts of Grace's song catalog.
