The track was released in the United States on 14 February 2012 as the lead single from the artist's second studio album, Master of My Make-Believe (2012).

[1] In September 2012, "Disparate Youth" became the soundtrack to insurance company Direct Line's latest television advertisement.

[6] The song was also used in the Netflix original series Atypical, in season one, episode six, during the end credits, and featured in Good Girls.

Reviewer Michael Cragg hailed it as "an absolute corker, all sleek new-wave keyboards mixed with frantic bursts of guitar and Santigold's intriguingly emotionless delivery.

Santigold and filmmaker Sam Fleischner co-directed a "Disparate Youth" music video shot in Portland Parish, Jamaica, which released in March 2012.