Following the release of Chappell Roan's single, "Pink Pony Club" flopping and Roan getting dropped by Atlantic for being unprofitable, she took a two year long break and came back with "Naked In Manhattan". The song's inspiration drew from her first time having a crush on a girl, who was from New York City. She said in an interview, "This song relates to having a crush on a girl or like a queer relationship at the beginning, because it's similar to the way that New York City makes me feel, which is like, excited and kind of like, wanderlust, and it's the same as a girl."[3]
In a review for Earmilk, Emily Treadgold said "Naked In Manhattan" was a showcase of Chappell Roan's amazing ability to "perfectly capture those burgeoning feelings of young love through a queer lens."[4]
Madeline Kinnaird for NPR wrote that "Naked In Manhattan" has lyricism that is "tender" and "nostalgic". She commented on Roan's falsetto, calling it "floating" and that the instrumentation has "delicate, yearning synths".[5]
