In an interview with Zane Lowe for Beats 1 Radio Sam said that ‘This was written in Nashville. I was looking back on the ghosts of my lovers.’ They expanded this further in an intimate performance in London for Apple Music, when they explained to the audience;

I was thinking of my heart as a palace of rooms and in every single room was a ghost … all the guys I’ve slept with (cheers, laughter and applause!). I wrote this song because no matter how many times my heart breaks, how many shit relationships I go through, real love is never a waste of time.

The song is about many relationships and, maybe, also one particular relationship. The point is that all were worthwhile.

The extended metaphor of the Palace representing past loves attests to the development of Sam’s lyrical skills. The only jarring note is possibly — as some critics have commented — the mundane, rather un-poetic ‘true love is never a waste of time’. But that is a minor quibble. Sam was twenty-five when they wrote this and future years of lyric writing will refine their skills.