“What Lovers Do” is the first collaboration between Maroon 5 and SZA, and the second collaboration between Maroon 5 and the TDE label, following 2016’s “Don’t Wanna Know” with Kendrick Lamar. The track centers around a poker metaphor on the chorus.

Maroon 5 gave fans just a two-day notice that they would be releasing the song, along with a #WhatLoversDo social media campaign that enabled fans to hear a preview of the single before it was released.