Maren Morris had first reached her commercial breakthrough in 2016 with the single "
My Church". The song helped her attain a recording contract and a
major label album that spawned further country hits. She followed it with several more commercially-successful singles, along with major industry awards. Morris wrote "Circles Around This Town" in preparation for her next studio album. It was composed with Ryan Hurd and Julia Michaels during the fall 2020 during a "deeply uninspired" period, according to Morris. It was among her first times co-writing in person since the start of the
COVID-19 pandemic. According to Morris, she had struggled writing material virtually due to the lack of places being open. The song's concept is based on Morris's journey to country success, describing her path of moving to
Nashville, Tennessee and signing a recording contract. "I hope that when listeners hear it, they can hear a bit of themselves in that story, even though it is mine," she told
CMT. "I needed to make this record to pull me out of the weird boredom, depression that I think every human being on this planet has had during the last couple of years," she explained of its recording process. ==Critical reception==