Sounds From Nowheresville

In January 2010, it was reported that The Ting Tings originally planned to name the album Kunst, which means "art" in German. "Just round the corner to our studio [in Berlin] there's a massage parlour, it's called Massage Kunst", De Martino explained. "It's Massage Art, basically. We took a picture of that and sent it to our label, saying this is the title of the album. They went berserk." The duo ultimately cancelled the release of their second album in 2010 because they felt it sounded too similar to everything else on the radio. In an interview with Digital Spy, White said, "We were in Berlin where there is a great electro scene, and so we made songs like that, but quickly realised that everything on the radio was Euro-pop shite. We didn't want our record to be tarnished with that brush." De Martino continued, "We scrapped six of the ten songs, which upset quite a few people. We put out 'Hands', which was meant to be an underground, white label-only release and it ended up being playlisted on Radio 1—we were quite angry so erased over half the album." They also insisted that they "found [their] feet" with their new album, adding, "No-one would give a shit if we'd made a shit Euro-pop song, even if it went top ten." The album was recorded in Berlin, London, Murcia and Ibiza.