Because “Fast Car” had blown up, people were saying to me, “Why don’t you do the same thing again?” And for me, that’s not what it’s about. It was about creating something new but being influenced by that. Musically, that’s where I was coming from with that. Song-wise, I was actually on tour at the time, and Jakey had my instrumental, and he laid down this great chorus. I could hear the potential and where the story could go but there was nothing else there yet.

So when I got back to London, we jumped on a FaceTime together, and we discussed what the story could be—this whole idea of you could have this holiday romance, or it could be the gentleman walking down the street, and you see this stranger, and for that split second, you can be perfect for each other. That’s how the story came about.

I would just say, “Think back that moment where you met your first love, or you when you really felt attracted to someone, and you feel there is that connection.” That is what this song is about.

My manager had a meeting at Island Records case and they happened to say, “We’ve got this singer/songwriter, J.P. Cooper. He might be a good fit to work with Jonas.” My manager gave them the instrumental and they sent back a rough version of “Perfect Strangers,” which sounded great. It had so much vibe to it, soul. The direction he was going, the story he was trying to tell sounded great. I came back to London and finished writing it.

– Jonas Blue in an interview with Idolator.