After five years of no new solo music, Lianne La Havas finally makes her long-awaited return to the music scene with the soulful single “Bittersweet.” The song finds La Havas closing the chapter on a relationship that she knows has run out of steam. Additionally, an extended version of the track opens the album.

The title and artwork cover were announced on February 24th, 2020, and the song was released the following day after being premiered on BBC Radio 1 with Annie Mac.

“Bittersweet” is the lead single off of La Havas' third album, although La Havas has been performing it live at her shows since September 2018. The track was originally intended to drop in January 2020, but was put on hold for a month due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A July 2020 interview with The Guardian revealed that La Havas first started writing the track in 2014 with the intent of including it on her sophomore album Blood.