[3] Following the release of VII in 2014, Taylor took a step back from her music career, instead working in television, getting married and giving birth to her first child.

The album features a guest appearance by West, as well as additional vocals by Ty Dolla Sign and Mykki Blanco.

A wide variety of record producers collaborated with West on the album, including Mike Dean, Rodney Jerkins, and BoogzDaBeast.

was announced; however, Taylor appeared on the Breakfast Club and said she will not hold her breath on the album's extended version and she won't make any promises on it.

After releasing her debut studio album VII (2014), Taylor landed a number of television gigs, got married and became a mother.

[9] Additionally, he revealed he would produce upcoming albums by GOOD Music label-mates Pusha T and Teyana Taylor, as well as Nas.

[14] Similar reports emerged almost a year later, in March 2018, of various artists including West being spotted in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

"Polo 'Ye" refers to West's more sonically conscious lyrics (heard on "All Falls Down") and sample-heavy productions such as "Through the Wire" or "Famous".

[15] In January 2018, announced that recording for the album was complete, with just a few "minor tweaks and whatever last-minute switches or edits and a green light from Kanye and should be good to go," before revealing West as the executive producer for her project.

was released incomplete, with the ninth track "We Got Love" being excluded due to an uncleared Billy Stewart sample.

In support of the album Taylor embarked on a joint summer tour with American singer Jeremih across North America.

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 74, based on eight reviews.

as "a record that melds new and old R&B with such flair", praising Kanye West's production who "takes the artfully distorted old-school R&B samples that double as his calling card – the ones that, over the years, he's rendered increasingly abrasive and jarring – and returns them to a more blissed-out and soulful sound.

is "long overdue, but the album remains too small a platform for her tremendous vocal talent", complimenting Teyana Taylor's performance whose "singing sounds luxurious but effortless" and "sticky and seductive.