The album features guest appearances from Ayra Starr, Davido, Focalistic, Abidoza, Mayra Andrade, and Ronisia, and was executive produced by CKay.

[1] It was produced primarily by CKay, with production from P2J, Christer, Abayomi Ilerioluwa, BMH, Charlie Handsome, Hoskins, Ramoni, Abidoza, Sarz, and Blaisebeatz.

[1] In late 2021, CKay released "Emiliana", following the success of his sleeper hit "Love Nwantiti", which earned him his first Billboard chart entry.

on 16 June 2023, he released the deluxe studio album for Sad Romance,[24] produced primarily by CKay, along with production from BMH, Sakhile, and Magicsticks.

In a review for Pulse Nigeria, Adeayo Adebiyi said that Sad Romance "is a nice album created with the intention of consolidating CKay's success abroad and reinstating his status has a sound connoisseur in Afrobeats.

"[26] In a review for The Native, Dennis Ade Peter said "There will always be a question of whether CKay played it a little too safe on his debut LP, the ultimate context of the album is in its contribution to any mythos the singer and producer might hope to have, beyond the ubiquity of a few singles.

Sad Romance doesn't deliver the sort of romance-themed tragedy you might want to glean from the title, just a few tragic moments and more blue-eyed ones that help bolster CKay as one of the best troubadours working in Nigerian pop today.