Brown directed and released eight music videos for the songs of the album, serializing them to construct a linear story.

[7][4] According to Iyana Robertson of Vibe, Brown on the album "sticks to the absence of a sonic script", showcasing "a pure, palpable display of an “outside of the box” approach to music".

[8][9][10] The Guardian reviewer Alexander Capelli defined Royalty an album "filled with sexually charged encounters, double cups, and Brown's emotional turmoil", ending with the singer "tenderly professing his love to his daughter".

[11] Robertson said that lyrically the album "waves goodbye to amour on its way out the door", noting it to be a "a stark contrast to 2014’s X, which included professions of affection".

[4] The opening track, "Back to Sleep" is an R&B slow jam about late night sex, that features beats and minor influences of funk music, reminiscent of Marvin Gaye's 1982 song "Sexual Healing".

[12][13][14] "Fine by Me" is a nu-disco song,[15] inspired by 80s music, with lyrics about the singer feeling comfortable not being the love interest of a specific lady, but only her sex partner.

Brad Wete of Billboard defined it as "a syrupy thumper blending hip-hop and R&B, almost serving as a Southern update of his 2011 hit “Look at Me Now”.

[19] "Zero" and "No Filter" are disco and funk records[9][20][21][22] that were compared by some critics to works of American band Chic and French electronic music duo Daft Punk, with lyrics that have been described as "unapologetic".

[24] "Picture Me Rollin’" is a G-funk song about living the thug life, featuring different references from West Coast rap.

[21][25][26] "Who's Gonna (Nobody)" is a "lascivious" R&B and alternative R&B slow-jam, that interpolates "Nobody" performed by Keith Sweat featuring Athena Cage.

[29] "Proof" was described by Brad Wete of Billboard as “a slow-winding tornado where [Brown] struggles to mend a relationship mangled by lies and insecurity.

He’s severed ties with exes and uses lines like “Whenever shit got deep, I would’ve drowned for you” as evidence of his dedication"”, while "Discover" was evidenced for its "dreamy atmosphere" and "sorrowing vocals", with Brown "futilely yearning for the second chance he doesn’t deserve".

The last track of the deluxe edition of Royalty is "U Did It", an "atmospheric" slow alternative R&B song with elements of trap music, featuring vocals from American rapper Future.

[33] The artwork of the album was revealed on October 16, 2015, and shot by Italian photographer Francesco Carrozzini, portraying Brown holding his daughter Royalty in his arms while she is sleeping, in a black and white picture.

[36] In the latter months of 2014 and throughout 2015, Chris Brown shared snippets of his upcoming music by posting short videos on his social media accounts and performing unreleased tracks during club appearances.

[34][35][43] After it was revealed that the album has been pushed back to December 18, 2015,[44] in exchange on November 27, 2015, he released a free 34-track mixtape, called Before the Party, as a prelude to Royalty.

The mixtape features guest appearances from Rihanna, Wiz Khalifa, Pusha T, Wale, Tyga, French Montana and Fetty Wap.

The song has since peaked at number 20 on the US Billboard Hot 100 making it Brown's highest-charting single from Royalty in the United States.

[61] The track "Wrist" featuring Solo Lucci, was released as part of the countdown single, with the pre-order of the album on December 4, 2015.

[68] Chris Brown is first seen drowning his sorrows at a bar alone when a mysterious woman buys him a drink and gives it to him after slipping a drug into it.

After the night spent with the mysterious woman, Brown hails a taxi to return home, only to find another girl he has been seeing angrily tossing his clothes off the balcony, unaware of his whereabouts.

Afterwards, he starts dancing in an alley and moves his way into a laundromat with his crew before taking the stage at a downtown theater and meeting up with Dan Bilzerian ("Zero").

In another trance-like sequence, Brown is dragged into another dark room by the henchwoman, inter-cut with clips of him and rapper Solo Lucci performing and dancing to "Wrist".

Brown is then seen tossing in his sleep inter-cut with flashbacks from the earlier videos, in addition to new footage of his girlfriend struggling to accept her pregnancy.

Los Angeles Times's Mikael Wood expressed a positive response, and complimented its music as "[carrying] a convincing bad-guy energy that’s all the more potent for its sweet, often luscious textures.

[74] Brad Wete of Billboard affirmed that "“Proof”-like cuts prove Brown can make quality songs about relationship dynamics (...) And he probably should, for the sake of a well-rounded output.

"[14] AllMusic editor Andy Kellman expressed a mixed response saying that the album "is not a farther away from the X-rated material full of carousing and belligerence that have dominated his work since Exclusive, as the cover might've suggested", and stated that the majority of Royalty "is a qualitative step back from previous solo album X.

Unfortunately, he's still spouting lines and repping an ideology that's a better fit for emotionally barren clubs on the Vegas strip than an intimate venue or bedroom.

"[7] Michael Arcenhaux of Complex started off the review saying that if he had one word to describe the album "it would be mistake", and that "Royalty is many things all at once though much of it is not particularly good.

"[70] Royalty debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 selling 184,000 equivalent copies (162,000 in pure album sales) behind Justin Bieber's Purpose and 25 by Adele.