[5][better source needed] Along with the announcement of the album, Dey released a statement in which she described the record as being "about the eternal power of music and genuine love between women" and "staying alive as long as possible, in defiance against all odds, through life-threatening sickness in world made to hurt [you], doing what little things possible to care for the people you love the most."

She also listed her inspirations for the record: Tori Amos, Utada Hikaru, Prince, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Regina Spektor, JPEGMafia, and Hatsune Miku.

The music consists of "simpler, gentler arrangements of voice, keys, and plodding percussion" with vocals "deliberately 'unfiltered and dry', which feels like a bold choice for a musician who made her name with digitalist contortions."

Joyce says the album's "unadorned arrangements give Dey the space to conjure some real emotional weight" and that her "voice carries desperation, weariness, and then, eventually, joy."

While her previous album's production "concealed the special contours of her instrument", Forever Music's "lets her evoke both the bad times and the good, lending depth to the darkness and real color to the moments where she realizes she might make it through.