Kesha co-wrote the song with its producers, Dr. Luke, Benny Blanco, and Cirkut, with additional writing from Nate Ruess, the lead singer of Fun.

In December 2012, the song was removed from some radio stations in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, rendering the title and chorus inappropriate for airplay.

Produced primarily by Dr. Luke and Benny Blanco, Kesha worked with the lead singer of fun., Nate Ruess, to write "Die Young".

Recalling experiences of feeding baby lions and swimming with great white sharks, Kesha said, "I got hypnotized, and I just really wanted this record to be really positive, really raw, really vulnerable and about the magic of life.

It's a celebration song, which I'm obviously known for writing those, but this one, the concept of it was to live each and every single day like it's your last and to always remain having a youthful spirit no matter how old I get...I can sing like a motherf***er!

"[11] In an interview with Rolling Stone, she said she intended to craft songs in the 1970s "cock rock" genre,[13] but Daw felt that her lackluster vocal delivery neither departed from her previous sound nor lived up to the hype.

[15] August Brown of the Los Angeles Times agreed, saying the single was, "...no major departure from her classic template of ravey pop spiced with gum-smacking raps and occasional vocal acrobatics."

Further, she wrote that "Die Young" had a "stock-and-trade" message, with the title being, "...a fate... less like a thing to be avoided, and more like the goal is to live fast and leave a good-looking corpse.

"[16] Marc Hogan of Spin wrote that Kesha's usual idiosyncrasies of punk rockers downing shots, transparent in even her worst songs, did not appear on "Die Young", announcing that "this one feels a bit more, well, blah than her previous hits.

"[12] Entertainment Weekly critic Ray Rahmen lent "Die Young" a positive review, saying it had all "the pop swag of a high-school girl sneaking a bottle of Smirnoff Ice into prom," before praising the song's remix potential.

[26] In its third week, "Die Young" rose to number eight on the Hot 100, earning Kesha her eighth consecutive top-ten hit on the chart since her debut with "Tik Tok" in 2010.

[27] For the week ending December 8, 2012, "Die Young" reached its eventual peak of number two, being kept off the top spot by Rihanna's "Diamonds".

On December 15, 2012, the day after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred, the song was withdrawn from some radio stations, causing "Not Your Fault Kesha" to trend on Twitter.

Despite being credited as a songwriter on the track, she did not contribute to the chorus lyrically, as this part was written by Nate Ruess,[37][38] although she reaffirmed that she fully resonated with the song's message;[38][39] the tweet verifying this was later deleted.

[41] According to Billboard, other songs that saw decreased airplay in the wake of the shooting and got removed from some radio stations included Foster the People's "Pumped Up Kicks" and David Guetta's "Titanium".

[44] In 2024, Kesha revealed in an interview with Vulture that she had an issue with the title of the song and originally wanted to name it "Beating My Drum", but did not have the control to change it.

[19] On September 24, 2012, celebrity makeup artist and blogger for People Scott Barnes wrote that he was working with Kesha on the music video for "Die Young".

[51] Playing the role of a cult leader, Kesha and her fictitious disciples raid a hamlet in rural Mexico, engaging in various forms of sexual debauchery.

[52] Occult symbols ubiquitously associated with the secret society such as the all-seeing eye of Horus, inverted crosses, pentagrams, and triangles pervade the video.

[52] Calling the imagery "blatant", Billboard reviewed the video as "tak[ing] the singer's button-pushing ability to dizzying new heights.

"[52] Sending text messages to her Animals (an affection name bestowed on her fans)[53] in the video, Kesha writes: "We made it… SOUTH OF THE BORDER… they'll never find us here".

[52] Kesha has declared that it is important for her, with Warrior and her live performances of "Die Young", to display her vocal ability due to the backlash she has received about using excessive auto-tune.

[54] The performance was held in the Rockefeller Plaza, and she wore a camouflage leotard adorned with an upside cross and rainbow-colored paper flowers.

Several college campuses have banned this activity due to noise complaints, and police have been called in residential neighborhoods with residents claiming either property damage or assuming a home invasion is happening.