Written by Bareilles and produced by Eric Rosse, it was released as the second single from her 2007 album Little Voice on April 29, 2008.

On August 20, 2013, the song was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments of over 500,000 copies.

"[3] She discarded the unfinished song until a year prior to the recording of her album Little Voice, when the song, as she said, "spoke to me again and sort of wrote itself as it was the answer to all my worries and I wrote it for love and it put to rest a lot of anxieties I had previously.

"[3] In an interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune, she further explained that the song's lyrical content focuses on the music business and, more specifically, the struggles of being an artist with a record contract, stating: "Before I had a record deal, I wrote that song about what it would be like to have a record deal, and the struggles of how do you become an artist who feels like they haven't quote/unquote 'sold out,' and how do you stay true to your art and figure out how to make a living from it...

"[2] The official music video for "Bottle It Up" was directed by Marcos Siega and released on April 9, 2008.