"The People's Key" was released on February 15, 2011, Conor Oberst's birthday. Conor Oberst has stated that the sound of "The People's Key" moves away from the folk sound that the band had accomplished on previous records. "We're over the Americana, rootsy, whatever that sound is. People say country but I never thought we were very country at all. But whatever that element is or that aesthetic is, I guess it's worn a little thin for me these days. So we very much wanted it to be rocking and, for lack of a better term, contemporary, or modern."