What's Up?

Years before 4 Non Blondes existed, Linda Perry was working as a waitress in San Francisco and playing her original compositions to Stephan Jenkins, later of Third Eye Blind, in private sessions between two struggling musicians. Among the songs they shared that way were early versions of "What's Up?" and "Semi-Charmed Life", which would later become hits for their respective bands. Jenkins eventually calculated that the material from that room went on to sell a combined 17 million records.

The title was a deliberate choice. The chorus of "What's Up?" actually repeats the line "what's going on?", but the song was deliberately named to avoid confusion with Marvin Gaye's 1971 song of the same phrase.

Producer David Tickle first recorded the track for the band's debut album, Bigger, Better, Faster, More!, but Perry disliked what he did with her lyrics and arrangement. When Interscope dismissed her complaints, she grabbed the band during a break and booked a session at The Record Plant in Sausalito. There she moved microphones herself, re-recorded her acoustics, and laid down three vocals, finishing the mix in a single night. It went to mastering the next morning. Interscope co-owner Jimmy Iovine preferred her version, and that re-recording became the one released to the world in March 1993.