Throughout “Sinking”, Clairo alludes to her juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, a condition she has had since the age of 17. Although “Sinking” isn’t the only track from Immunity to discuss her arthritis, with final song “I Wouldn’t Ask You” addressing her struggle when she was first diagnosed.

“Sinking” was written during a period when Clairo had particularly bad flares, so bad she struggled to even make it to the studio. She commented on the song’s lyrics to Pitchfork:

If you really pay attention to what’s going on, you can tell that it’s about someone dealing with pain. That’s how arthritis works: You don’t understand it until you look closely enough.