Most of the songs on Halcyon were penned by Goulding about her former partner Greg James, including this dark and brooding track. Speaking about her past relationship with the BBC Radio 1 DJ, she told The Sun: "My songs are always about things I experience and my ex knows that and my guy now knows that and even my friends know that - everyone knows that. Greg and I are still friends. Yes, I was worried about what he'd think about these songs but he's heard them and is fine. He's always been a fan of my music," she continued, "that's how we met. I don't think he takes it too seriously. That period in our lives has passed now. We've moved on. He texted me the other day to say that he really liked 'Figure 8'."
Goulding explained the concept for the song's music video to MTV News: "I kind of just wanted to put into one video the desperation of unrequited love; I didn't want to do anything that conceptual, I just wanted to do something just, you now, very performance [driven]," she said, "and try to get across as much as possible how horrible, how heartbreaking, how desperate and hopeless it is. But there's also a bit in it where I say 'lovers hold on,' so there's a little hopeful element to it as well."
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