following the duo's departure from emi in august 2010, it was confirmed in april 2011 that goldfrapp had begun work on their sixth studio album. in december 2011, it was announced that a 14-track retrospective compilation titled "the singles" would be released on 6 february 2012 by mute records and parlophone, including the biggest singles from their five studio albums, as well as two brand-new songs, "melancholy sky" and "yellow halo". "melancholy sky" was released on 3 january 2012 as the compilation's lead single, while a video for "yellow halo" was directed by lisa gunning and entirely shot on gunning's iphone in south america.