[2] The album was produced by Mitchell Froom, and other contributors include Matt Chamberlain, Jim Keltner, and Blake Mills.

Originally scheduled to be available on April 24, the album's release date was pushed back to July 24 because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

[5] In addition to recording with Froom in Los Angeles, he confirmed the involvement of drummers Matt Chamberlain and Jim Keltner, as well as guitarist Blake Mills.

Wainwright said the album would possibly be called Unfollow the Rules (a phrase used by his daughter), and acknowledged, "there's a large portion of my audience that will be very excited to get a new pop record and has been very patient".

[16][17][18] "Alone Time" was released as a single on April 24, alongside a black and white music video by animator Josh Shaffner, who used his own drawings as well as others by Wainwright.

In mid 2018, newspapers reviewing Wainwright's concerts said he performed a song about his husband Jörn Weisbrodt from his upcoming album called "Peaceful Afternoon".

[21][22][23][24] Keith Bruce of The Herald called "Peaceful Afternoon" "a lovely, honest, heartfelt" song and wrote, "in style and structure it could as easily have been written by his father Loudon Wainwright III".

[20] Wainwright wrote the song "Unfollow the Rules" for the 2018 film Here and Now, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, who also served as a producer.

[28] Variety's Peter DeBruge wrote, "the scene in which Parker performs it reinforces the degree to which the movie never quite penetrates her point of view (the camera circles, studying her in the blue light of the nightclub, without capturing any sense that those lyrics ought to mean more to her now than ever before)".

[30] Jennifer Landes of The East Hampton Star opined, "While she can certainly carry a tune, her breathy delivery doesn't really jibe with the dominance her character is purported to have in her genre.

[45] These two bonus tracks are translated by Renan Luce Wainwright released the live album Unfollow the Rules: The Paramour Sessions in 2021.