It was released on July 26, 2019, through NF Real Music and Caroline,[2] and was preceded by the singles "Why", "The Search", "When I Grow Up" and "Time".

The album was announced along with the second single and title track, which "express[es] the hard quest [NF has] been on lately in his life with the help of rapid fire rap verses".

Rytlewski wrote that NF "spends much of The Search darting in and out of an overbearing rappity-rap snarl-yell" and called his "struggles with mental illness [...] life-threatening", concluding that the album is an "unpleasant ride".

However, he described the record as "alternately thrilling and draining" as well as "sometimes vigorous, sometimes exhausting", likening the listening experience to "living inside a snare drum during a marching band's halftime performance", and was critical of the lack of musical and lyrical variation on it.

[10][11] Chris DeVille of Stereogum wrote that while "the album's gothic heaviness sometimes suffocates its considerable pop acumen", its theme of struggle against mental health makes it "easy to see why legions of hurting kids gravitate to this music, especially those who reject the nihilism and hopelessness that defines many similar alternatives".