Following the 2017 release of Hippopotamus, Sparks toured, continued their work as screenwriters and composers for the upcoming musical Annette starring Adam Driver and participated in a documentary about their career directed by Edgar Wright.

[11] Described by Randall Roberts in the Los Angeles Times as "contemporary, electronically driven art-pop",[1] the album reflects Sparks' traditional stylistic versatility encompassing "pop, rock, New Wave, synth-pop, disco, dance, electro, orchestral, opera"[12] while prominently featuring Russell Mael's layered vocals, accompanied by rocky guitars and drums.

[13] Louder Than War's Tim Cooper likened Ron Mael's writing to that of Cole Porter or Ivor Novello, "employing wit in the form of puns and metaphors, yet his subject matter and his concerns are always contemporary; never more so than on 'iPhone', a song whose chorus is something we can all empathise with: 'Put your fucking iPhone down and listen to me.

'"[12] The album's closing track "Please Don't Fuck Up My World", described by AllMusic's Heather Phares as a "poignant ecological plea" that "manage[s] to use a children's choir to non-cloying effect", is also unusual in Sparks' body of work for having an overt political message.

[3] Mat Smith writing in Clash magazine characterised it as "classic Sparks moments, full of comedy, clever wordplay, deft explorations of all the myriad issues of the world, with arrangements that sound as current and fresh as a dew-soaked spring daisy.