Conceived after the end of her marriage with musician Greg Laswell and the death of her mother Elizabeth, Michaelson reteamed with a wider range of previous collaborators to work on the album, including Cason Cooley, Barry Dean, Katie Herzig, Chris Kuffner, Luke Laird and Dan Romer.

AllMusic editor Matt Collar noted thath It Doesn't Have to Make Sense "finds the singer/songwriter delving into a set of sonically robust, emotionally transfiguring anthems recorded in the wake of her mother's death and the breakup of her marriage.

"[10] Nina Ellis from Cryptic Rock felt that "Michaelson digs deeper on It Doesn’t Have to Make Sense while remaining true to the artist people have fallen in love with.

Her optimistic outlook paired with a raw sound creates a balanced album full of dynamic lyrics and infectious beats.

"[1] Sputnikmusic found that "although there are occasional sojourns into peppier territory, It Doesn’t Have to Make Sense is largely just a matter of Ingrid sitting alone with her thoughts, a pen, and an acoustic guitar or piano [...] It may not be very likely to top the charts because of its languid nature, but unearthing some of the lyrical gems here is actually far more rewarding.