The album serves as the follow-up to his previous album, Man of the Woods (2018) and features guest appearances from Fireboy DML, Tobe Nwigwe, and Timberlake's band, NSYNC. Production was handled by Timberlake himself, Danja, Federico Vindver, Calvin Harris, Timbaland, Louis Bell, Cirkut, Ryan Tedder, Rob Knox, and others. The album was preceded by two singles, "Selfish" and "No Angels", as well as the promotional single "Drown".

Everything I Thought It Was debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200, giving Timberlake his sixth consecutive top five album in the country, while the lead single "Selfish" reached the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album also reached the top five in several other countries, including Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. To promote the album, Timberlake embarked on his seventh concert tour, The Forget Tomorrow World Tour in April 2024.