OK (Anxiety Anthem)

Mabel wrote "OK (Anxiety Anthem)" in 2018 with MNEK and Maria Hazell.[2] It took Mabel years to figure out how to write it.[3] Mabel considerer's the song her most personal song and it was the most challenging song she had ever written.[1] Mabel spoke to Metro about the song:[2]

It was difficult. I wrote OK (Anxiety Anthem) and was processing how to write that song and I sort of looked at anxiety as something like “one day it's going to be gone” and I was embarrassed and ashamed.

You can't really hide when you're doing what I do. I thought you can't have those days and it was this constant turmoil of not being my full authentic self, because that side of me, that vulnerable part, it doesn't make me weak. I was like “That can't be a part of this” because I'm trying to flip my hair and be that perfect popstar and then realised actually it doesn't make me weak or less strong. It was literally last year when I wrote OK. I was going through a difficult time. And I think writing an album sometimes – since you spend all day every day talking about your feelings and picking them apart – and it got to a point where I thought “Aaah, what am I doing?

I woke up and had a session with Emike and Maria Hazell and I was like, “I have two options: I can get up today, put some make up on and go and just be like everything's great and come home and collapse” or I can just go and be a mess and tell them I'm a mess. And I did that.

"OK (Anxiety Anthem)" is a tropical house and pop ballad with jazz influenced chorus.[4][5][6] It features a "clipped guitar and airy beats".[7] It was written in the key of A-flat minor with a tempo of 99 beats per minute.[8] Lyrically the song is about "accepting that you're not always going to feel ok".[1]

A Spotify vertical video for the song accompanied the song's release.[9] The song's official music video was released on 16 August 2019 through Dazed.[1] The black and white video was directed by Jade Jackman.[10][11]