
On August 2, 2022, Scott announced a one-week-long residency in the Zouk Nightclub in Las Vegas, known as the Road to Utopia from September 17 to 24. In February 2023, Scott revealed at the 2023 NBA All-Star weekend event in Salt Lake City that Utopia would be released after Don Toliver, Sheck Wes, and SoFaygo, who are his artists signed to Cactus Jack Records, would release their respective projects. In an interview with Women's Wear Daily in June, Scott described the sound of Utopia, stating that he is "in this new album mode where it's like psychedelic rock". In May 2021, record producer and audio engineer Mike Dean stated that Scott was recording music that was alike to that from his debut mixtape, Owl Pharaoh (2013), for Utopia. In a February 2021 interview with i-D, Scott said he had been collaborating with new artists while attempting to expand his sound and making songs on his own instrumentals that he had created. Recording for the album began in 2019 with Scott posting updates throughout recording sessions on social media.
#Travis scott new album utopia series#
In October, Scott continued to tease the album in a series of tweets. On August 3, 2020, he further teased the title of the album in a thank you letter to fans on the second anniversary of his third studio album, Astroworld (2018). On July 8, 2020, Scott first revealed the title of the album when he posted a picture on Instagram with its name, which would later be revealed to be the title. The album was supported by two singles: " K-pop" and " Delresto (Echoes)".

Commercially, the album became Scott's first number one album in the United Kingdom, also reaching the top in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, and Sweden. All 19 songs from the album debuted in the Billboard Hot 100, making Scott the 15th artist in the chart's history to log 100-plus career entries. Utopia received generally positive reviews from music critics and debuted at number one on Billboard 200 chart, in which it earned 496,000 album-equivalent units, of which 252,000 units were pure album sales. It is a concept record that was accompanied by a film titled Circus Maximus which was released the day before the album. The album serves as the follow-up to Scott's third studio album, Astroworld (2018), as well as JackBoys (2019), his compilation album that was released in collaboration with Cactus Jack. The names of the other artists on the album were initially hidden on streaming services, but they were credited four days after it was released.

Production was handled by a variety of record producers, including Scott and James Blake themselves, WondaGurl, Kanye West, Allen Ritter, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, Wheezy, Buddy Ross, Vegyn, 30 Roc, Jahaan Sweet, Boi-1da, Vinylz, Tay Keith, Bnyx, Oz, Justin Vernon, the Alchemist, Dom Maker, Illangelo, DVLP, and Metro Boomin, among others.

The album features guest appearances from Teezo Touchdown, Drake, Playboi Carti, Beyoncé, Rob49, 21 Savage, the Weeknd, Swae Lee, Yung Lean, Dave Chappelle, Young Thug, Westside Gunn, Kid Cudi, Bad Bunny, SZA, Future, and James Blake. It was released through Cactus Jack and Epic Records on July 28, 2023. Utopia (stylized in all caps) is the fourth studio album by American rapper Travis Scott.
