The album takes its title from the year 2020,[1] inspired by posters for the 2020 Summer Olympics that Nilsson saw during a trip to Tokyo in 2017, and by the then-upcoming 2020 United States presidential election.

[10] It deals with topics including the patriarchy,[11] climate change,[12] gun control,[4] and the passage of time.

[16] In another positive review, Claire Biddles of The Line of Best Fit noted the "warmth of [Nilsson's] arrangements and lyrical sentiment" and described the album as an "excellent record about salvaging hope from worldly and interpersonal wreckage".

[1] Ollie Rankine, in a positive review for Loud and Quiet, noted Nilsson's "vigour and optimism" in the face of a "gloomy forecast of our collective future".

[12] In a review of "Days of Dust", Sophie Kemp of Pitchfork said that the song "takes [its] listener to the final golden hour before the metaphorical end of the world" and noted its nostalgic, ironic, and macabre undertones.