They recorded their next album at Mad Hatter Studios in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California, co-producing it with Chad Blinman and Alex Brahl.

Described as an emo album, Something to Write Home About expands on the harder edge of its predecessor, with frontman Matt Pryor citing the works of the Foo Fighters, Jimmy Eat World and Wilco as influences.

The success of Something to Write Home About made Vagrant Records one of the major players in the fledgling emo scene, attracting bands like Dashboard Confessional, Saves the Day, and Alkaline Trio to sign with the label.

[2] By April 1999, tired that the negotiations with Mojo Records had taken too long and eventually came to a halt, the band felt it wasn't the right time to be signing with a major.

[2] Before the group could start, Vagrant Records' co-owner Jon Cohen had to borrow money from his parents, who mortgaged their house in order to fund the sessions.

[19] Ian Cohen of Stereogum described the album in the context of the band's contemporaries: "Braid and the Promise Ring were too quirky, Saves The Day hadn’t quite shed their hardcore origins, and Texas Is The Reason and Mineral were too artsy and esoteric".

Pryor cites Wilco's Summerteeth (1999), Jimmy Eat World's Clarity (1999) and the Foo Fighters' The Colour and the Shape as primary influences in writing new material.

According to Pryor, they had been listening to Weezer a lot and wanted more synthesizer parts, with Dewees being "such a talented piano player, he just sort of upped the ante.

[19] Pryor also began to branch out lyrically, including on “Red Letter Day,” which was written about the bands’ negative experiences with Dirk Hemsmath and Doghouse Records.

[20][21] In writing the album, the band was also more conscious of traditional pop song structure, focusing more on hooks and placing less emphasis on long instrumental sections.

[22] Ryan Pope made a conscious effort to restrain his drum parts on the album, emulating Charlie Watts and Jim Keltner, stating that it was more "important to maybe make some sacrifices for the tune instead of pounding away and thinking of yourself as an individual player.

[26] The power pop song "Ten Minutes" is a homage to be stuck in traffic on the way to a lover's residence, and features Suptic on lead vocals.

Drowned in Sound writer James Skinner complimented the band members for "how brilliantly [they] play off each other," coupled with a "healthy dose of longing and you're halfway there in terms of understanding its appeal".

[51] Reviewing the album for MTV News, critic Kembrew McLeod wrote that the band are "certainly not purveyors of bubble-punk in the same mold as Green Day or Blink-182, but they never forget the sheer pleasure that the right sequence of notes or the perfect harmony brings".

[60] PopMatters contributor Rob Browning wrote that the album retaining the "edge of their Doghouse past, but sported cleaner production and more hooks than a tackle box".

[19] The staff at Impact Press considered it superior to the band's debut, stating that the "tunes are absolutely absorbing, sucking you into the hooks, the energy, the drive, the music".

[61] Spin writer Andrew Beaujon found the band to be "peppy enough to make even a college sophomore feel old," adding that they sound "exactly like Superchunk".

[63] LAS Magazine founder Eric J. Herboth said that like their debut, Something was "complete bunk" aside from the two "great" songs "Red Letter Day" and "I'm a Loner Dottie, a Rebel".

[64] Pitchfork's Brent DiCrescenzo noted a lack of originality in the music, writing that "implementation of keyboards and acoustic guitars is predictable and unimpressive", calling the release "an entire album of songs which follow the same formula, yet never reach the quasi- memorable qualities of a radio hit.

"[30] AllMusic reviewer Zac Johnson noted that despite the band "struggling with stumbling relationships," they were still capable of "process[ing] the complexities of their daily lives through music".

[31] In a retrospective review, Mischa Pearlman of Record Collector felt that the album "still holds up, its power and impact remaining as profound as ever".

[57] In a 2017 retrospective of Four Minute Mile, Vice Media's Eduardo Cepeda called Something to Write Home About "a masterful follow-up to their unfussy debut.

But they also wrote concisely and passionately about girls, heartbreak, and trouble with authority, thus setting the norms for 21st-century emo: While the band’s presentation and ethics were overtly punk, their songs harkened back to early rock’n’roll records that functioned as teen pop.

[69] The album's success was the first major breakthrough for Vagrant Records, and made the Get Up Kids the label's "flagship band", attracting other artists to sign with the company.