[2] Featuring co-production by Hudson Mohawke and Oneohtrix Point Never,[2] the album departs from the chamber pop style of her previous work, instead exploring an electronic sound and engaging directly with political and environmental themes in the form of protest songs.

Following her plaintive, chamber pop-styled work with the group Antony and the Johnsons in the early 2000s, Anohni began developing a radically different "Trojan horse" project that would instead feature a "glossy, plastic sound" while dealing more directly with political and environmental issues.

Speaking to the New York Times, Anohni explained that "the kind of relentless, exuberant, almost ecstatic positiveness of Hudson's music was the perfect foil for more challenging lyrics than people would be used to hearing from me.

[5] Commenting on "4 Degrees" in a fan interview earlier in the year, Hegarty had stated that she had "grown tired of grieving for humanity", adding that she felt she "was not being entirely honest by pretending that I am not a part of the problem.

[10] On 30 November 2015, Anohni released "4 Degrees", the first song off of Hopelessness, along with an accompanying message: "In solidarity with the climate conference in Paris, giving myself a good hard look, not my aspirations but my behaviors, revealing my insidious complicity.

[18] As revealed shortly after the announcement on Anohni's Instagram account, the video was directed by Nabil Elderkin and stars English supermodel Naomi Campbell.

"[4] Writing for Exclaim!, Andrea Warner characterized Hopelessness as "a shimmering, shadowy electronic pop protest record that thunders and sparks, avenges and retreats, attacks and empowers," noting Anohni's "ownership and authority over her artistic voice that we've not yet seen before.

"[3] T. Cole Rachel of Spin called the album "a potent political statement," and described the music as "gorgeous, matching the intensity of the subject matter without overwhelming it and giving the appropriate space to ANOHNI’s voice, which remains a glorious instrument.

[29] Writing for NPR, Ann Powers said of the album, "The subject matter on Hopelessness can be grisly — state-sponsored execution, torture, animals expiring in trees — but the music, and Anohni's singing especially, brings the emotional rush of revelation.