Following the success of Hiraeth (2014), Elzinga drew inspiration from the "vaporwave vibe" he felt in the video game Grand Theft Auto V (2013), and produced Palm Mall as his first "serious try" at a mallsoft release.

Palm Mall received generally favorable reviews from critics; its ambiance and themes led many to describe it as ambiguous in its portrayal of consumerism.

He felt inspired to produce Palm Mall after hearing the Jay Rock song "Hood Gone Love It" in Grand Theft Auto V, describing the video game itself as "GTA Vaporwave".

[4] The tracks feature electronic production in Adobe Premiere mixed with sample-based ambiance;[6][9] music magazine Fact mentioned the album in an article about the "first vaporwave mall".

[8] Writer Ícaro Estivalet Raimund said the artwork, created digitally by musician CVLTVRE,[10] presents the artificiality of an ideal mall, and "plays" with real representations we have of shopping centers.

[11] The ambient style of the 20-minute long eponymous first track features samples that repeat constantly, particularly a man saying "I'm gonna grab my laptop and put it over here", which Elzinga compared to the Wilhelm scream.

[14] He found the record's existence within the vaporwave community as an example of music "manipulated to a degree that is both recognizable of its past roots yet remarkably separate from its source material".