Every song on the album was co-written by Pink, with the exception of "Try", which was written by Michael Busbee and Ben West, and was originally recorded in 2010 by their former band GoNorthToGoSouth. They later pitched "Try" to Rani Hancock, an A&R executive of RCA Records, hoping to give the song to Kelly Clarkson or Daughtry. A demo version was also recorded by Adam Lambert, but according to Busbee, he "just wasn't the right fit". After the song was played at a label meeting, the song was pitched to Pink. Pink agreed to record "Try", which Busbee said "was one of the first outside songs she had recorded in a long time". The concept of "Just Give Me a Reason" was developed during a songwriting session with Bhasker and Nate Ruess. Bhasker was introduced to Pink by Peter Edge, an executive of RCA Records. Pink approached Ruess because she was captivated by his "intense incredible" voice. After the first verse was written, Pink later worked on the lyrics at home. She envisioned that the song's conversational nature demanded another collaborator, and selected Ruess to be a guest vocalist. However, he was ambivalent about singing a duet with Pink because he only recorded a demo for the track. Nonetheless, Pink persuaded Ruess to record "Just Give Me a Reason" in a duet after "many, many months of convincing". She concluded; "I totally tricked him into doing it and I'm so glad that I was able to because no one could have done it better, and I think now he's very happy that he did it".
