From 2000 to 2001, Bowie had been working on Toy, a hybrid album of new material and new versions of several songs he had recorded in the 60s, with many of those being from before he had begun using the “David Bowie” stage name. Though the album was completed, it wasn’t heard by the public until it was leaked in 2011, and it wasn’t until 2021 that it received an official release as part of the Brilliant Adventure (1992-2001) box set. A standalone release of Toy is slated for 2022. Some of the new songs made it onto Heathen which was released in 2002. Critics responded well to the album, and similarly to other albums of the period, like Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, critics perceived the album to be a response to the events of September 11. While Bowie himself had been a resident of New York for years at this point, he stated that the songs were written before the attack. The album’s mood arose instead from a pre-existing tension he felt in the American landscape.
The cover was designed by Jonathan Banbrook, who would go on to design his next three covers, Reality, The Next Day, and Blackstar. Accompanying photo shoots feature Bowie in the same suit, albeit without the effects used on the cover.