In 2010, Flowers released his debut solo album Flamingo under the production work of Daniel Lanois, Stuart Price, and Brendan O'Brien.

[7][8] Flowers then put his solo career on hiatus while he pursued collaborations with The Killers including the UK number-one album Battle Born.

[9] In February 2015, Flowers released a teaser video on his website as well as a hand written note stating, "May 18, 2015 We will finally achieve The Desired Effect.

[5] The album features notable musicians including Neil Tennant (Pet Shop Boys),[11] Bruce Hornsby, Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel), Carlos Alomar (David Bowie), Joey Waronker (Beck), Kenny Aronoff (John Mellencamp), Ronnie Vannucci, Jr. (The Killers), Angel Deradoorian (Dirty Projectors), and Danielle Haim (Haim).

[25] Flowers performed "Can't Deny My Love" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on March 23, 2015.

[29] On May 20, Flowers performed a set at Maida Vale Studios on BBC Radio 2 Live Session with Jo Whiley;[30] The Desired Effect was featured the record of the week (May 9)[31] Flowers performed "Can't Deny My Love", "Lonely Town", and "Still Want You" on DirecTV's Guitar Center Sessions on May 29, hosted by Nic Harcourt.

On tour Flowers was joined by guests on stage including Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders and Bernard Sumner of New Order.

Neil McCormick of The Sunday Telegraph called it a "set of perfectly honed pop-rock burnished with immense choruses" and wrote that, "every track offers up a smart blend of snappy lyrics and catchy hooks.

"[46] Sarah Jamieson of DIY wrote "Brandon is still very much the star of this show... he's always been at his most comfortable creating huge pop songs and with his last solo effort, he proved to do just that.

"[50] Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone wrote, "The Desired Effect is something rare—the best straight-up pop album made by a rock star in recent memory.

[66] In the United States, the album sold the seventh most copies its debut week, but due to the inclusion of streaming data, it charted at number 17.