For the album, Blackpink recorded over ten new songs and worked with a variety of producers, including Teddy, Tommy Brown, R. Tee, Steven Franks, and 24.

Eight songs made the final tracklist, including two collaborations: "Ice Cream" with Selena Gomez, and "Bet You Wanna", featuring Cardi B.

They added that record producer Tommy Brown collaborated on two songs on the album, including "Ice Cream".

[18] The same day, Blackpink revealed The Album track listing, which confirmed first-time songwriting contributions from members Jennie and Jisoo and additional collaborations with rapper Cardi B and record producers David Guetta and Ryan Tedder.

American singer Selena Gomez collaborated on "Ice Cream" and rapper Cardi B featured on "Bet You Wanna".

The Album was written and produced by Teddy, Tommy Brown, Mr. Franks, Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez, Jennie, Jisoo, Brian Lee, and David Guetta, among others.

[25] The opening track, "How You Like That", is a pop, trap and hip-hop song infused with regal horn blasts and a braggadocious hook, accompanied by elements of Arabic music during Lisa's second verse rap.

[26][27][1] The lyrics deliver a "positive and hopeful" message about "not being daunted by dark situations and to not lose the confidence and strength to stand up again".

[43][45] Blackpink was scheduled to do a world tour in the summer of 2020, but their plans changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so they began work on their second album.

[46] Blackpink member Rosé stated "I think it has made us more focused into completing the album and making it the best thing we can give to our fans.

"[50] The standard edition was physically released on CD, cassette tape, and vinyl, and made available for digital download and streaming.

[52] On October 14, Limited Cashbee transportation cards were made available for sale at YG Select and on specialized retailers' websites.

[55] On September 27, Blackpink released an exclusive playlist on Spotify which shows the music the members were listening to while they worked on the album.

[58] On November 25, the group performed "Lovesick Girls" at the Waktu Indonesia Belanja, an event held by e-commerce platform Tokopedia.

[64] In South Korea, the song peaked at number one on the Gaon Digital Chart for three weeks, earning Blackpink their third number-one single in the country.

[18] An accompanying music video for the song was directed by Seo Hyun-seung and uploaded onto Blackpink's YouTube channel simultaneously with the single's release.

[79] On December 3, 2020, it was announced that Blackpink would headline a virtual pay-per-view concert to promote their album, set for launch on January 31, 2021.

"The Show", available exclusively on Blackpink's YouTube channel, included first-time performances of songs from The Album and Rosé's upcoming solo "Gone".

[84] Neil Z. Yeung of AllMusic said "overflowing with confidence, Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa conquer each track on The Album with their vocal ability (both singing and rapping) and effortless charm, switching up styles to offer something for every type of fan.

"[85] Alexis Petridis from The Guardian praised the album's production calling it a "precision-tooled rap-influenced pop that makes most western artists' efforts in that area seem wan", but critiqued the lack of an "overarching concept".

[23] Writing for The Daily Telegraph, Neil McCormick wrote that the tracks "sounds like five different songs tightly packed into one" and that the album "is Britney Spearmint Bubblegum on steroids".

[24] For Rolling Stone, Tim Chan wrote that "the eight-song set is a slick, confident and wildly entertaining release from the biggest girl group in the world".

[45] Hannah Zwick of Consequence of Sound said that the album "showcases their signature style of blending genres and influences to create songs that are just as classically pop as they are identifiably Blackpink", but critiques that it "leave[s] you wanting more, both in quantity and quality".

[87] In a more positive review, IZM wrote that the appearance of this work informs that K-pop has begun to be reborn from a "passive attitude" to a "subjective aspect" and believes that "a lot of things will change starting from this album".

[90] In a mixed review from Slant Magazine, Sophie Ordez wrote that "crammed chockfull of crowd-pleasing EDM pyrotechnics and cheeky one-liners, The Album is undeniably a product of a well-oiled, state-of-the-art pop machine, but it feels stuck looking back to tried and true trends in both K-pop and Western pop music.

"[91] Sputnikmusic's Raul Stanciu rated the album 2.4 out of 5, pointing out: "There is roughly an EP worth of songs here that bring something remotely interesting to the table, rather than simply rehashing past ideas and reproducing beats you've heard in 100 other tracks before.

[124] Five album tracks debuted on the Canadian Hot 100 chart, with "How You Like That", "Ice Cream" and "Lovesick Girls" arriving in the top 40.

[128] By the end of the year, The Album was the country's fifth best-selling cassette record and among the ten biggest releases from a female artist.

[131] Moreover, "How You Like That", "Ice Cream", "Bet You Wanna" and "Lovesick Girls" entered the top 50 of the ARIA Singles Chart.

[134] The album's eight songs collectively drew 333.3 million streams and 70,000 downloads worldwide in the tracking week ending October 8, according to MRC Data.