Featuring a style influenced by classic rock and hard rock, the album was announced in September 2019 with an original release date of May 2020, coinciding with announcement of the band's participation in the Hella Mega Tour alongside Green Day and Fall Out Boy.

In an interview that month with Entertainment Weekly, Cuomo mentioned that an album tentatively titled Van Weezer was in the works, and that it would take the band "back to big guitars".

[14] A short snippet of "Blue Dream" debuted on The Simpsons episode "The Hateful Eight-Year-Olds", on which Weezer guest-starred as themselves.

[15] On August 14, 2020, the band announced that the album had been delayed to May 2021 in order to coincide with the rescheduled Hella Mega Tour.

That same day, the third single, "Beginning of the End", was released as a part of the soundtrack for Bill & Ted Face the Music.

[21] Stephen Thomas Erlewine at AllMusic gave the album a positive review, stating "...any of its retro origins are washed away by big, dumb sounds that keep the record grounded in the eternal now, an aesthetic choice that also helps the album be a rousing good time."