After Genesis took a break in activity in late 1981, Collins started work on a follow-up to his debut solo studio album Face Value (1981).

In December 1981, Collins's band Genesis entered an eight-month break in activity after touring their eleventh studio album Abacab (1981).

He started work on a follow-up to his first solo studio album, Face Value (1981), which mainly concerned events in his personal life including his divorce from his first wife.

contains even greater amounts of material concerning his private life, and reasoned its concentration down to feeling guilty regarding the divorce and "to be purely sentimental about it".

"[16] NME writer Graham K. Smith was less enthused, criticising the lyrics as excessively self-pitying and the music as steeped in "blatant textbook commercialities"; he found that the album "resoundly collapses between the two stools of 'meaningful rock' and disposable pop, wallowing in all the worst aspects of both with none of the saving graces".

[20] Retrospectively, AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine stated that Collins "began to inject his highly melodic pop songwriting with more soul and R&B influences" on Hello, I Must Be Going!, with mixed results: "While some of the material was successful, much of it showed that he was still coming to grips with how to incorporate R&B techniques into his style.

"[21] In a later review of the album for AllMusic, Tim Sendra was more favourable, deeming it "a winning follow-up that shows Collins to be in full control of songwriting and production".

He performed with a nine-piece band[7] that included Genesis touring musicians Chester Thompson and Daryl Stuermer, and the Phenix Horns.