To Lake Street Dive, the title, Free Yourself Up, is both an exhortation to listeners and a statement of purpose for the band.

In many ways, this is the band's most intimate and collaborative record, with the band working as a tightly knit unit to craft its ten songs. For this album, the quartet drafted touring keyboardist Akie Bermiss to join them in the studio as well as on stage. Adding another player to the process freed up the the band members to explore a wider range of instrumental textures, construct more full-bodied arrangements, and build on their well-known background harmonies.

The members of Lake Street Dive met in 2004 as students at Boston's New England Conservatory of Music. Though they were all studying jazz, their work together was informed by their love of classic pop, particularly from the '60s, including the Beatles, the Supremes, Dusty Springfield, and the Beach Boys.

For several years, the group was a part-time proposition, but in 2012, Lake Street Dive became a full-time combo after a YouTube video of the quartet acoustically performing the Jackson Five's “I Want You Back” on a suburban Boston street corner went viral. Producer T Bone Burnett soon invited them to perform at a concert he curated at New York City's Town Hall. The band's performance of “You Go Down Smooth” was a crowd and critical favorite, with Rolling Stone calling the band “unexpected showstoppers.”

Lake Street Dive's 2014 album Bad Self Portraits was highly praised by the press. USA Today called the record “a sparkling collection of jazz/Motown/girl group/British Invasion–inspired original tunes.” Performances on the Colbert Report, Late Show with David Letterman, and Conan followed, and their live shows became a hot ticket.