It was released on October 12, 2017, through Ace Unit Culture, as the first single of Wu's debut studio album Antares (2018).

"Deserve" was written by Kris Wu and Travis Scott, while production was handled by Louis Bell.

Wu told Zane Lowe, host of Apple Music 1: "[...] One of the homies said that he had reached out to Travis Scott, and he was actually in New York.

"[1] Wu later told Beatrice Hazlehurst of Paper that the songs creation "was super organic, Travis was out of town but we had this idea for a collaboration, you know, East and West.

[4] On the release day, Wu and Scott performed the song in the Up&Down Club in New York City, organized by 88 Rising.