On April 16th 2016, “Empty” was announced to be the first single from Garbage’s sixth studio album Strange Little Birds. The song premiered on KROQ’s Kevin and Bean on April 20th, and was later uploaded to Garbage’s YouTube channel.

The song deals with frustration and self-doubt.

The music video was directed by Sam Bayer, who also directed the “Vow”, “Only Happy When It Rains” and “Stupid Girl” videos. It was uploaded on VEVO on May 23rd.