It was released on March 27, 2007, as the first single from their second studio album, It Won't Be Soon Before Long (2007).

"[5] Prior to "Makes Me Wonder", producer Mark Endert had contributed to the band's debut album, Songs About Jane, in which he provided additional production to and mixed the hit single "This Love".

Using his Logic system at Scream Studios, he programmed the keyboards, bass, guitars on an old '80s Roland.

[7] According to producer Mark Endert, the idea was to make the song's music contemporary and urban.

[6] "Makes Me Wonder" began as a love song which Levine wrote about a "failed relationship",[8] which he said went horribly wrong.

[5] However, when he revisited the song for It Won't Be Soon Before Long a few years later, Levine "recognized a whole new dimension" to it which resulted to his adding political insights on the lyrics.

It combines lyrics about his being in a state of a failed relationship and his "failure to understand or trust" the leadership of his country.

From the original lyrics, they incorporated the line "Give me something to believe in / Because I don't believe in you anymore" which became the refrain to the chorus.

[10] Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times called "Makes Me Wonder" an "aggravatingly danceable track".

[11] For Neil Drumming of Entertainment Weekly, Levine seems "detached ... cold even" in the song, adding that "there's a twisted logic to his dispassionate delivery".

"[13] Robert Christgau, in his review for Rolling Stone, noted the "political subtext" of the song.

The song has had one of the biggest bullets in Hot Adult history, with many AC radio stations putting it into heavy rotation mere days after its release.

Levine said Hillcoat had an idea of turning the airport into a bizarre, surreal, sexually charged, fashionable world.

At the end of the video, Levine is shown asleep on the plane with an eye mask on as the song plays in the background.

The band played with the song live in their various appearances such as American Idol, Good Morning America, Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Rove and TRL.

The song was featured in the television shows Ghost Whisperer, The Hills and Beat Shazam, as well as for the trailer of 27 Dresses (2008).

The song was featured on the video games Speed Drifters, Lips and Boogie Superstar.