Titled after the Japanese city of Kyoto, Phoebe Bridgers wrote this wistful, brass-flecked tune after her first trip to Japan. Speaking about the song's backstory, she explained it's about impostor syndrome. "[it's] about being in Japan for the first time, somewhere I've always wanted to go, and playing my music to people who want to hear it, feeling like I'm living someone else's life," Bridgers said.

After originally writing "Kyoto" as a ballad, Bridgers decided she was tired of recording slow songs, so she turned it into a fuzzy, guitar-riffed folk rocker.

Phoebe Bridgers delivered a unique quarantine rendition of the track from her bathroom on the April 9, 2020 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live. Dubbed by the host, "Phoebe Bridgers live from the lavatory," the pajama-clad songstress performed the tune in her tub, singing into a children's microphone taped to the stand while playing a synthesizer resting on her lap.