Following the release of their debut studio album, Designing a Nervous Breakdown in early 2000, the band started writing new material by that August.

The album was promoted with supporting slots for Guided by Voices, Dashboard Confessional and Cheap Trick, and two headlining tours by the band.

[6][7] A week prior to recording the album, the band worked on pre-production with Rob Schnapf at a practice space; they played him every track and after each performance, the Anniversary went over parts and song structures.

[14][21] Parts of it drew comparisons to the works of a full-band iteration of Elliott Smith and Rufus Wainwright, the New Pornographers, and English acts the Kinks and Mott the Hoople.

[16][23] The Anniversary played three shows with Guided by Voices in the following month, before supporting Dashboard Confessional on an eight-week tour in March and April 2002.

[33] In response, Vagrant's co-owner Rich Egan made a negative post on the record label's message board that was subsequently deleted.

[37] Chart Attack writer Steve Servos said: "[g]one are the emo labels and in their place the band show off an appreciation for the classic pop-influences-rock sound".

He was not surprised to hear "the full band version" of Elliott Smith because the Anniversary were working with Schnapf, "with a little Rufus Wainwright thrown in for good measure".

[17] CMJ New Music Report's Amy Sciarretto called the album an "ambitious, left-of-center" release with keyboard melodies that were used "in a different way" to the ones on Designing a Nervous Breakdown.

[38] AllMusic reviewer Heather Phares said the Anniversary expanded on "some of their artier tendencies and keeping the playful, hooky songwriting that made their debut so refreshing".

Phares praised Schapf's "aptly lush" production work and said the band's "inherent, slightly awkward earnestness shines through at every turn".

[14] Rolling Stone writer Jenny Eliscu said Schnapf's and Boehm's work with Elliott Smith is apparent on Your Majesty, on which "a twinge of sadness turns even sunny tunes such as 'Never Die Young' slightly sour".

[40] Andrew Sacher of BrooklynVegan wrote that the "hooks are just as sticky as the ones on their debut LP, the harmonies are gorgeous, and sometimes the band sounds even more comfortable making this kind of music" than they did with their past work.

[20] Inlander's Mike Corrigan said Pope's "earnest, airy vocals are a nice compliment to the more affected delivery" of Berwanger and Roelofs on the album.

He found the Anniversary to be lacking in "genuine passion and emotional depth", and said the album is "full of half-hearted performances, secondhand sentiments, mediocre writing and little, if any real soul".

[41] Pitchfork writer Brad Haywood said the music, "while pretending to be candy-coated pop-rock, shares all of emo's key indicators, including melodramatic vocal delivery, seamless production, and shameless overambition".