In its lyrics inspired by headlines from the women's fashion magazine Cosmopolitan, LaBelle instructs a woman on how to draw and keep the attention of a man.

The song's accompanying music video was directed by Sarah Chatfield and shows LaBelle holding a pizza party with her friends, after giving them advice on how to "sexify" themselves.

Initially rising to fame in 2004 as a finalist on the third season of American Idol, Leah LaBelle found minor success through releasing covers of songs on her YouTube account.

[5] On May 1, 2012, "Sexify" was released as part of the sampler album Pharrell Williams and Jermaine Dupri Present Leah LaBelle; it also included four other tracks: "So Hot", "Make Me Get Up", "What Do We Got To Lose?

[3][4][9][10] According to LaBelle, the song originated from a discussion with Williams about "the Cosmopolitan women of today", and the duo compiled a list of frequently used phrases from the magazine that could be used as lyrics.

[2] The chorus is accompanied by a "summery two-step tune", including lyrics such as "I gotta whole bunch of ways" and "He'll come home girl / If you know what I mean."

[14] She recounted that she was initially discouraged from pursuing a career in the genre,[15] but later said that she was not concerned with "the clichés surrounding white artists singing R&B".

[14] "Sexify" received primarily positive reception from music critics, with the single being called a "fun-girl talk anthem" and "a wonderful introduction to Leah's soulful sound" by BET.

[20] Nicole James of Fuse wrote that the song had a similar throwback style to that of Brandy, Alicia Keys, and Whitney Houston.

[30] It includes cameos by Williams as a pizza delivery boy, Dupri as LaBelle's landlord, and American singer JoJo as one of her friends.

[30] Prior to the release of the music video, a behind-the-scenes clip was shown as an episode of Living the Life, which included choreographer Fatima Robinson and LaBelle's mother.

[3][34] On May 4, Cosmopolitan offered free MP3 downloads of "Sexify" to new subscribers of LaBelle's mailing list,[8] with the single being officially released on ITunes on June 19, 2012.

[9][35] LaBelle later performed the song at the Essence Music Festival, and a private benefit concert for the October 2012 issue of Vanity Fair.

[36] The following year, she performed the single as a part of a set for BET's Music Matters held on the weekend of the 55th Annual Grammy Awards.