It was released on September 29, 2023, via Mercury Records as the fifth single from the band's fifth studio album The Maybe Man.

AJR began writing a concept for an "old western/hip hop" song, titling it "So What" and creating a demo on March 27, 2020.

The band wrote five more iterations before settling on "Yes I'm a Mess", with the lyrical idea of "throwing out your life, moving to another city, [and] just tak[ing] it from scratch".

[3] In relation to the song being the last single of The Maybe Man before release,[4] the band stated "we put absolutely everything we had into this album, visuals, and tour.

[5][6] "Yes I'm a Mess" is composed in 44 time signature in the key of D minor and primarily follows a tempo of 92 beats per minute (BPM).