Japanese singer-songwriter and musician Gen Hoshino emerged as a primarily acoustic pop artist with his debut albums Baka no Uta (2010) and Episode (2011).

[2][3] With his instrumental band Sakerock formed in 2000, Hoshino performed songs inspired by funk, soul, jazz, and R&B, and experimented with a mixture of Japanese and African-American styles on the B-sides to his singles, such as "Yuge" on "Kudaranai no Naka ni" (2011), "Moshi mo" on "Film" (2012), or "Kisetsu" on "Shiranai" (2013).

[1][7] Only a week later, he followed Stranger with the non-album rock and roll single "Gag" for the anime film Saint Young Men,[8] but assumed a second hiatus in June after a reinspection discovered a relapse in his hemorrhage.

[15][16] A love for soul artists such as Michael Jackson re-discovered during the single's production primarily inspired "Sakura no Mori",[17] which showcased Hoshino merging Japanese and African-American styles into his musical direction.

[2] A fun production on "Sakura no Mori" inspired Hoshino to write an album in the same style, and conceived Yellow Dancer after noticing similarities in the stylistic origins from African-American music in the song and "Why Don't You Play in Hell?".

[5]: 27  Though the writing process of the singles focused on what Hoshino found fun and his niche musical interests, he was encouraged to explore the styles more openly on an album after noticing a rise in popularity of Western artists such as Chich, Daft Punk, and Bruno Mars in Japan; daily airplay of Mark Ronson and Mars' "Uptown Funk" (2014) at his local Lawson convenience store and the response to "Sakura no Mori" from J-Wave listeners further motivated his work on the album.

In an interview with Musica magazine, Hoshino spoke of his disinterest in mimicking African-American music: "There was a hole in the middle of the obstacle [of my nationality], and I could've easily passed through.

"[5]: 28  Instead of replicating black music, he would incorporate elements of it into a J-pop style, a method previously used by 1980s artists such as Toshinobu Kubota and Dreams Come True, who were both cited by Hoshino.

[20][21] In the same comment, he stated Yellow Dancer was written "having fun doing what I wanted" and shared his belief that the album would make listeners dance with "not only the body, but also with the heart".

[5]: 29, 31  When questioning what he wanted to express against the black music-inspired sound, he decided to focus on what he described as "Japanese scenery", such as the four seasons, morning and night, or ocean and mountains.

[25] Its sound is primarily a mix of Japanese pop and folk with African-American genres like jazz, soul, and R&B,[26][27][28] though critics also described it as containing tracks with hints of dance, disco, funk, electro, post-rock, exotica, and Latin.

[b] Bounce's Daisuke Sawada wrote that Hoshino "worked head-on on [with] soul music, old-time jazz, and R&B", whilst he maintained a "folky poetic sentiment".

[33] The opening numbers "Tokiyo" and "Week End" are upbeat or poppy tracks,[32][34] whereas "Miss You" (ミスユー, Misu Yū), the acoustic "Kuchizuke" (口づけ, lit.

[4] Hoshino sings of parting with someone important and new beginnings on "Miss You", a slow-to-medium-paced soul ballad that Mikiki's Chikako Kato thought was close to Baka no Uta.

[43][44] An alternate cover with a cherry blossom pink background created for the album's analog version was revealed on January 7, 2016, which Natalie.mu writers thought gave a "warm" impression.

[45] At the 2016 Music Jacket Awards, the Yellow Dancer standard cover art was named winner of the Grand Prix by voters of the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ), beating out 49 other nominees including the runner-ups Inu ni Shite kure by Wasureranne yo and Window by Drop's.

Alongside all other nominees, the RIAJ announced that the cover would be displayed at the Music Jacket Gallery 2016, a one-week exhibition at the Takashimaya Times Square [ja] department store in Shinjuku, Tokyo.