Qadiri began writing her second album around February/March 2015 while having to be a room in her Kuwait home due to a knee injury. She was looking at a "horrific news cycle" on Twitter, being "moved" by seeing protests going on in places such as Ferguson and Baltimore. This inspired Qadiri to make a record about protesting halfway into writing her next record. As she explained in a "Thump" interview, "I also saw it as a challenge. Protest music is a real genre, and there have been a lot of seminal protest records. I just feel like this is a subject that's moving a lot of people right now." The first track completed for the album was "Blood Moon," the last "Oubliette." On 20 January 2016, it was announced that "Brute" would be released on 4 March 2016 and "Battery" was issued as the lead single. On 23 February 2016, "Mixmag" held a Q&amp;A with Brown and premiered the track "Power." Hyperdub officially released the album on 4 March 2016.