On 3 June 2016, Who released a cover of Donna Lewis' hit 1996 single "I Love You Always Forever", produced by her frequent collaborator and former schoolmate Peter Thomas.

[3] When asked as if this was the first offering from her upcoming second studio album, she commented "I was desperate to put out new music and it is really a kind of exhausting and sometimes impossibly-busy process to try and get a song out into the world.

In a December interview with Billboard magazine, she revealed the album featured production from new collaborators like Australian songwriter Robopop, American duo Pop & Oak, and Mstr Rogers, among others.

[6] Heather Phares from AllMusic gave the album three-and-a-half out of five stars and felt that "The Valley is a closer fit with the mainstream pop landscape of the 2010s than anything she's done before", adding "The album's best moments let her emotive, expressive singing shine on songs that are all the more joyous because they're so relatable, whether it's the breakup recovery anthem 'You Can Cry Tomorrow' or the celebratory Superfruit collaboration 'Beautiful'".

David praised "Mama Say" for "mixing pop with '80s synths and fun lyrics", described "Wanna Be" as Who "wishing she was with someone who is taken" and opined that "Blue Heaven Midnight Crush" could be "pulled straight out of a movie from the '80s", adding Who is "immensely talented".