I tried to touch on a different variety of change on every single song". While working on the songs, the group was inspired by the Beach Boys, the Beatles, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, and the Police. The band said Melillo "allowed us to feel comfortable and confident in making music. He was the missing piece to the puzzle that is CUTE, so to speak". Hacikyan said that it originally took him a while to write with Melillo as he was unsure what Melillo wished to do as a musician. The band said the album was written with the "full intention to assert ourselves as proper musicians in our minds and allow the public to then make their assessment". The album's sound has been described as pop punk and pop rock. All of the music was credited to Cute Is What We Aim For and Feldmann, except "Practice Makes Perfect", "Loser", "Safe Ride", "Marriage to Millions" and "Miss Sobriety", which were written solely by the band. Hacikyan wrote all of the lyrics. Discussing writing Melillo said "[Czum was] really good at writing riffs .... [Hacikyan] totally has the lyrics and melody on lockdown, and I shine and polish [the material]". Hacikyan said "Practice Makes Perfect" was about a one-night stand which "lasted too many nights". According to Hacikyan, the ending of "Doctor" and "Miss Sobriety" was "us legitimately being aggressive". He explained that when writing the tracks "we were furious. ... [Those two songs are] what came out, and we accepted it". The group were initially hesitant with including the songs, "Then we decided, this is us ... We wanted it to be off the top of our heads and true". Julian Feldmann provides additional vocals on "Doctor". Referring to "Miss Sobriety", Hacikyan said he "personally wanted [it] to be as upfront as possible and address everything we could". Hacikyan said "Time" was "a personification of Mother Earth". The track features additional instrumentation from a few people: Appleton (oboe and flute), Dauray (alto sax) and Jess Neilson (clarinet and bass clarinet). Release On April 22, 2008, Rotation was announced for release in two months' time; alongside this, "Doctor" was posted on the group's Myspace profile. "Practice Makes Perfect" was released as a single on May 5. The following day, Melillo was made an official member of the band. Later in the month, the band filmed a music video for "Practice Makes