"We Love Life" was intended to be a departure from the disillusionment from the band's previous album, "This Is Hardcore", in that it featured a more organic sound and an emphasis on nature, which Cocker found interest in "because it is dangerous in some ways". Cocker explained, "I never took any notice of nature when I was a kid. I thought we'd all be living on space stations or floating metropolises by now. But after "This Is Hardcore", which was a very alienated record, it was time to go back to simpler things, like this, the natural world." At the same time, Cocker stated, "This isn't Pulp's pastoral album. I was very aware of avoiding hippy dippy stuff."