After the release of Rainbow, her third studio album, Kesha issued a new single titled "Rich, White, Straight Men" in June 2019.

[2] It was initially uploaded onto her YouTube account on June 2 without prior announcement and was made available in online music stores and streaming platforms six days later.

[3][4][5] In September 2019, Billboard published a cover story about the singer, in which she announced that her fourth studio album was in development and would be released in following December.

[7] Kesha worked with some previous partners, such as Wrabel, Nate Ruess, Justin Tranter, and her mother Pebe Sebert, as well as new collaborators, including Tayla Parx, and Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons.

[10][11][12] On the eve of the album's street date, Kesha revealed via Twitter that she had finalized a song titled "Summer" five days earlier.

[14][15] The cover art for High Road depicts a melting candle made from a 3D scan of Kesha's head, which Dezeen described as "psychedelic".

[16] Roetting explained that the melting candle represented that "nothing is permanent" as well as harkening to Kesha's exploration of themes of "joy" found in her earlier work.

[22] In the early stages of the album, Kesha's brother suggested that she make uptempo songs as in the past, but she rejected the idea because she didn't want to meet the audience's expectations.

[24][25] Along with the singer's visuals, Rainbow's lyrical and musical elements were unusual in relation to her previous works due to its more optimistic and sentimental approach.

[26][18][27][28][29][21] Laura Snapes of The Guardian affirms that High Road builds a new figure for Kesha's music "in the way that Tina Turner and Rihanna did after rejecting their own victim narratives",[23] referring to the legal battle against Dr. Luke.

[31] It begins as an "emotive" piano-driven ballad[32][33] followed by a hip hop- and EDM-influenced breakdown with a "low-riding bassline" and a "buzzed beat"[34] that sees the singer rapping.

[18][36][22] The "dance-floor inferno"[29] lead single "Raising Hell" features guest vocals by Big Freedia and is a blend of multiple genres including gospel,[37][38][39] EDM,[37][40] country,[26] and bounce.

[43] The soul-influenced sixth track, "Honey", is built upon a guitar riff and lyrically debates a "man-stealing ex-friend"[21] with "humour and a chummy chatty style that moves into a more natural narrative".

[44] "Cowboy Blues" lyrically analyzes "the ways in which loneliness can cloud one's instincts"[36] and was compared to Lady Gaga's 2016 album Joanne and Taylor Swift's works.

[29][21] It has a featuring credit for Ke$ha, the stylization the singer used prior to Rainbow, and was compared to the works of Carly Rae Jepsen and the Spice Girls.

[43] Kesha sings about "preserving childlike innocence" in the "almost unbelievably bizarre"[22] "Potato Song (Cuz I Want To)", which predominantly features oom-pah and saxophone.

[29] High Road ends with "Chasing Thunder", an "ode to wandering, and 'never growing up'"[22] which was sonically compared to the work of Florence and the Machine.

The union of the personas approached by Kesha throughout her career, which occurs musically and lyrically on the album, received polarizing responses, with some critics praising the artist's uniqueness, while others pointed out a false personality construction.

[36] Nick Lowe of Clash complimented it for not sounding forced despite its versatility, writing that Kesha "searches deep and emancipates the embodiment of sheer delight".

[21] Writing for DIY, Elly Watson defined the album as an "overwhelmingly triumphant pop offering that sees Kesha back at her best and having shit tons of fun while doing it".

[85][17] In a more mixed evaluation, Megan Buerger of Pitchfork summarized High Road as a setback following Rainbow, affirming that it "feels strained, scattershot, and loaded with tension, like someone trying to portray freedom and free-spiritedness—even a recovered sense of identity—who isn't quite there yet".

[86][87] All tracks are written by Kesha Sebert, with additional contributors notedNotes Credits adapted from the album's liner notes,[89] and organized in alphabetical order by surname.