The album was originally set for release on April 24, 2020 but was delayed due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and "the changing nature of travel policies and quarantines across the world.

[2] It was produced by Danielle Haim,[3] Rostam Batmanglij and Ariel Rechtshaid, and was preceded by the singles "Summer Girl", "Now I'm in It" and "Hallelujah".

[7] The trio initially teased the album with the abbreviation WIMPIII on their social media, jokingly offering a "free T-shirt" to anybody who could guess what it stood for or who had an answer that made them laugh.

[9] Danielle Haim cited Outkast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2003) as a key source of influence for the band that inspired the eclectic nature of their album.

She explained, "We thought it would be cool to make a body of work that didn't adhere to specific rules or genre, like they did.

Writing for Pitchfork, Aimee Cliff called it "Haim as we haven't quite heard them before: not just eminently proficient musicians, entertainers, and 'women in music,' but full of flaws and contradictions, becoming something much greater."

[11] Lindsay Zoladz, writing for The New York Times, remarked that the record "clears a welcome path forward for the group's sound," cautioning that "every so often they overstuff the arrangements with one too many sonic quirks or spoken-word bridges, but more often than not their risks are rewarding.

"[27] Reviewing in his "Consumer Guide" column, Robert Christgau applauded Batmanglij for enhancing the band's compositions, in which, "from booty calls to dreams so much sweeter than what anyone wakes up to in this cruel time, the lyrics evoke the pains and complexities of the single life each of these seamless siblings is obliged to face alone after all.