Alanis Morissette wrote "Uninvited" in 1998 as a piano ballad exploring a "fear of love," marking her first major release following the massive success of "Jagged Little Pill." The song was inspired after she saw a rough cut of the romantic fantasy film "City of Angels", starring Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan, and it went on to feature prominently in the finished film's soundtrack.

Morissette has said the track's themes coincided with personal experiences she was going through at the time, allowing it to work both as a reflection of her own feelings and as an expression of Meg Ryan's character in the film. She has spoken about drawing on intuition and gut instinct, describing a belief that appreciating good things requires having experienced contrast through difficult periods.