The track obtained double platinum certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Music Canada (MC).

The album received positive reviews from music critics, who praised its mix of country and pop as well as Andress's lyricism.

[4] One year later, Andress, alongside fellow singer Devin Dawson, worked with American record producer Frank Rogers during a writing session.

[3][4] In December 2016, she independently released the promotional single "Deck the Halls (Holidays Are Here)" alongside musician Eric Arjes.

[9] Warner Music Nashville signed Andress as a recording artist in the same year after noticing her contribution to Charli XCX's "Boys" (2017) and Fletcher's "About You" (2018).

[18][19] Andress re-arranged the tracklist in order from the earliest song she wrote to the most recent one, stating that she did it "to match that progression of that time of [her] life".

[22] Overall, they touch on themes of relationships, family and according to Jacob Uitti from American Songwriter, Andress's "signature scuffed-boot-brand of feminism".

[23][24] In a 2021 interview with Spin, she declared that her biggest inspirations for the album were the Chicks, Whitney Houston, John Denver and Adele.

[23] She also worked with producers, Zach Abend, AJ Pruis, Jordan Schmidt and Sam Ellis, having co-produced with the latter six tracks on the standard edition of the album.

[10] "The Stranger" encompasses a piano sound and details a lost romance; Andress wrote it after noticing her generation's unrealistic expectations of love.

The song was inspired by Andress's real-life indecision of whether or not she should bring her new boyfriend to her family, as they became attached to an ex-boyfriend from a previous relationship of hers.

AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine praised the mix of country and pop and deemed it "bright, glossy, and amorphous".

declared that the album "sonically diverges from the country-pop norm; Andress's lyrical honesty adds a sentimental perspective that invites you to listen to something out of the ordinary and makes you crave more.

"[23] Paper's Abby Schreiber declared that the record is filled with songs that "simultaneously cut you to the quick" but make one feeling "somehow stronger and more empowered.

"[37] Writing for Variety, Chris Willman stated that Lady Like represents a return to a period when "strong female singer/songwriters who weren't necessarily strictly defined by genre" found their place in it such as Mary Chapin Carpenter and Rosanne Cash, and that Andress's pop crossover potential is "tremendous".

[45] The single received double platinum certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Music Canada (MC).