"life got cold" is a ballad written in d minor. the chord progressions vary throughout the song but the different chords include b, c, dm, gm, and am. following typical verse-chorus form, the song consists of a verse followed by a bridge and chorus. the verses are "talk-sung", while the bridge and chorus are song over guitar strumming. the middle 8 is a slower version of the bridge. the song tells the tale of young love that ended "when summer slipped away." "life got cold" was a late addition to "sound of the underground", completed by xenomania shortly before the album's release. producer brian higgins did not take the idea of a girls aloud version of the song seriously until he heard the group sing it, because a track working "has always got to be based on an artist's performance, not the music itself. but they sang it, and they really nailed the melancholic aspect of it, and it sounded beautiful." the lyrics focus on "the directionlessness of modern life."