Unhealthy (song)

Unhealthy is the title song from Anne-Marie's third studio album.^[3] The snippet of the song was shared alongside the album announcement on the artist's social media account on 27 April 2023.^[4] In an interview with Hits Radio, talking about the inspiration for the song, Anne-Marie said: "For some reason, sometimes I get something stuck in my head and I can't get it out, and with this one, I went into the studio and all I could see was a picture of myself just eating a burger, and all the juice just dripping down my chin. And like all the unhealthy stuff you can possibly imagine, pasta, pizza, everything! All the best things and just the title 'Unhealthy'."^[5] As a fan of Shania Twain, Anne-Marie reached out to her via DM, proposing a collaboration. By March, the two artists recorded the song in London.^[6]

Unhealthy is a country-pop song.^[7] The song is about a toxic relationship. Anne-Marie acknowledges that the relationship is unhealthy, comparing the feelings to the negative effects of cigarettes and hangovers. The song also highlights the conflict between her family and friends, who are concerned about her well-being and urge her to leave the relationship. Despite their warnings, she remains loyal to her partner and is willing to take the risks and consequences of staying with him.^[8] The song is in the key of B minor with a tempo of 120 beats per minute and a time signature of ⁴
₄. The chord progression Bm–D–A–E is used in the verses, choruses and post-choruses; the progression G-A-F♯/A♯–B, in the pre-choruses.^[9]

The song was premiered on BBC Radio 1's Future Sounds with Clara Amfo on 18 May 2023.^[6] The first live performance of the song was at the BBC The One Show on 19 May 2023.^[10][11]

The music video for the song, directed by Olivia Rose, was released in June 2023. It was filmed in Nashville and in Kent.^[12] In a podcast Table Manners with Jessie Ware and Lennie Ware, Anne-Marie talked about the music video: "We went to Nashville the other day to do the music video, but she did her bit in Nashville and I did my bit in Kent. We filmed it like an old western movie. (...) I still went there to film some bits with her, but because weirdly Nashville don't have any western sets, they just have fields, so I was like 'I can't do the whole western video in a field dressed like a cowgirl', it just didn't make sense to me, so we found this set in Kent which is a whole town."^[13]