In 2003, Lohan recorded four songs including a Radio Disney hit, “Drama Queen (That Girl)“, that were released for the soundtrack to Lohan’s film, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen. Lohan began writing the tracks on her album in April 2004. “I write a lot of lyrics and I’m involved in the producing process, because it’s like, if I’m singing it, I want it to be something that I can relate to”, Lohan said. “I’m just trying to feel it out and see where it goes. I’m playing guitar and I also love to dance, so [the music will be] somewhere along the lines of hip-hop and rock.” She had begun working with Diane Warren and Randy Jackson, who were going to help write and produce her album. Diane Warren wrote the song, “I Decide”, for Lohan which was originally going to be on her album. When Lohan decided not to collaborate with Warren and Jackson, “I Decide” was instead released on the soundtrack to the film, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement and on to Radio Disney.

By 2004, Lohan’s deal with Emilio Estefan, Jr., had been cancelled and Lohan began looking for producers for her album. When asked by MTV about what label she would be working with, Lohan said, “I met with Jive, Universal and I spoke to someone at Bad Boy the other day, which would be kind of cool, but we’ll see what happens”. In the summer, Lohan revealed that she had signed a deal with Casablanca Records, whose parent company is Universal Music Group. Music producers Kara DioGuardi and John Shanks both wrote and produced ten of the tracks, six with Lohan. Cory Rooney produced her first single, “Rumors”, with Taryll and TJ Jackson, sons of Tito Jackson.

The album features different styles of music such as pop rock, electro-pop, and soft rock ballads. “I wanted to have a mixture like that because I love those kinds of club tracks that you can listen to before you go out at night with all your friends. And I also wanted stuff that was a little bit more rock that you could get into if you were like angry or depressed or sad or that. I wanted to be able to touch upon all those feelings and I wanted to speak about all different things, too, which is why I titled the album Speak”, Lohan said in an interview with IGN. The lead single, “Rumors”, has been called a “bass-heavy, angry club anthem” by Rolling Stone.