On “Sand”, Cameron goes through a realisation that a past relationship was toxic, and very one-sided. She realises that her ex still has a lot of her, but she has none of him anymore. Cameron explained the track by saying:

[…] “Sand” started as a poem that I wrote about a relationship that I was in a while ago that was really intense and all consuming. Even from the beginning of the relationship, I could tell that it was limited, but it was like that feeling of just like, time slipping through your fingers, someone slipping through your fingers. Even though you still were together, and so in love and there was no end in sight. I just knew. I just could feel it, and at the end of the relationship, when I realized that the, like, sick feeling in my stomach, like, the feeling that, like, just wouldn’t leave me was that I felt like I’d give so much of myself away that I didn’t get back. And I felt like he’d kept so much of himself. It’s almost like the feeling of like someone holding you hostage in another city. Like, I just couldn’t seem to get myself back for a really long time. Which really didn’t leave me until very recently.

“Sand” is the fourth track from part one of Dove Cameron’s debut album, Alchemical: Vol. 1. The single was released on November 10, 2023. The track was teased in an Instagram story posted by Cameron on October 11, 2023. The track was described by ABC News as “a slow-burning, wistful track about an ex that contains the lovely lines”. The official announcement came from DoveHQ on October 31.