If He Wanted to He Would

In February 2025, Perrie released her single "Rollercoaster" after fans voted for it against another song.^[2] She then took a break from releasing songs to rework the concept for her debut studio album.^[3] Six months later, she returned by announcing the release of "If He Wanted to He Would".^[4] Perrie felt the song was more accurate to her own experiences and was proud of the musical direction it had taken her in.^[5]

Two years prior to its release, co-writer Nina Nesbitt began a concept for the song, intending for it to be a slow R&B song. The song was not picked up by her label at the time, which frustrated her.^[4] Then, in a session with Perrie and the Nocturns, Perrie stated that she wanted to "write a song about being the one all the girls go to for advice", which inspired Nesbitt to revisit the song.^[4]

Rolling Stone noted that the song marks a country pop direction for Perrie.^[1] They also found it similar to the Little Mix song "Shout Out to My Ex", which she took as a compliment. Talking about the lyrical content of the song, Perrie remarked: "I realised that if I released another song about heartbreak, my fans would have gone into a downward spiral, but if I write about a friend going through it, it's kinda different! This situation happens so often in life, but from my own experience I was in a relationship for a very long time and sometimes you're so in love with someone [and] you devote so much time and energy that you don’t always see the red flags. In my experience, nobody told me that at the time".^[1]

A music video premiered on YouTube on the day of the song's release. The video stars Perrie playing the best friend of a character portrayed by co-writer Nesbitt, where Perrie comforts her. The music video was inspired by numerous romcoms and included references to The Holiday, Mean Girls, Bridesmaids and Pretty Woman.^[6]

Credits adapted from Spotify.

• Perrie Edwards – vocals, songwriting
• Nina Nesbitt – songwriting
• Charlie Martin – songwriting
• Joe Housley – songwriting
• Steven Soloman – production
• The Nocturns – production

"If He Wanted to He Would" debuted at number one on the Official Charts Company Trending Charts, marking her second number one after "Forget About Us".^[7]