It was released by independent label Big3 Records on August 14, 2012, two years after Lynche placed fourth on the ninth season of American Idol.

He collaborated with songwriters Charlie Brown, Rob Chiarelli, Maria Christensen Gharah Degeddingseze, David Glass, Jamie Jones, D'myreo Mitchell, Monte Neuble, Jason Pennock, Wayne Rodrigues, Tim Stewart, Ryan Tedder, and Ronnie Walton.

Lynche also served as a producer on the album, along with Chiarelli, Degeddingseze, Jones, Mitchell, Neuble, Pennock, Rodrigues, Stewart, Bill Edwards, and Preach.

Lynche signed with Big3 Records (an independent label based in his hometown of St. Petersburg, Florida) in September 2011; although by that time, he had already been working on an album for about half-a-year.

[12] Lynche also explored love from the perspective of a parent with the song "Baby Boo", which he wrote for his daughter Laila.

[2][9] Among Lynche's other collaborators on the album was dance-pop group 3rd Party's lead singer Maria Christensen, whom he had met while he was in New York before he tried out for American Idol.

[15] Lynche co-wrote three songs with American Idol season 2 winner Ruben Studdard, although none of these were ultimately included on the album.

Discussing "Intoxicated" and "Speechless", she wrote that Lynche displays "increasingly rare facets in urbanized love songs: awe and vulnerability about his lady that aren’t restricted to how well she happens to fill out a dress.

She felt that "Baby Boo" showed Lynche to be more versatile than many of his musical contemporaries, and considered his cover of Kate Bush's "This Woman's Work" to be "worth the price of an iTunes upload all by itself.

"[15] Brinda Fuller Willis of the Jackson Advocate considered Lynche's vocal abilities superior to many current singers.

He called Michael Lynche "a sonically rich and lyrically inviting debut album", and felt that it perfectly combines elements of R&B, hip-hop, and jazz.