Post Pop Depression

Pop and Homme began working in January 2015, after Pop contacted Homme and sent him lyrics and notes about his time with Bowie. The album has nine songs. It was recorded between January 12 and March 9, 2015, at Rancho De La Luna in Joshua Tree and at Pink Duck Studios in Burbank, with Dean Fertita on guitar and keyboards and Matt Helders of Arctic Monkeys on drums. Pop and Homme paid for it themselves. Pop described it as concerned with what happens when your utility is at an end and with dealing with your legacy.

The lead single, Gardenia, was first played on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on January 21, 2016. The album debuted at number 17 on the Billboard 200, becoming Pop's first top 20 album in the United States and his first top five album in Britain. The tour began in Los Angeles on March 9, 2016. NME's Matt Wilkinson called it "an intelligent, sassy garage rock record". Pop told the Guardian that he sent Homme a technically specific description of how The Idiot and Lust for Life were made.