User:Mrs. Hastings/sandbox/Drew Hacks/Studio 1

Strange Intentions of a Stilted One is the debut studio album by American singer Drew Hacks. It was released on March 18, 2016, through Columbia Records. Hacks signed with the label in late 2014 and began work on his debut project in February 2015, when his manager Jonny Shipes introduced him to various pop music songwriters and producers. In the following months, the majority of the songs were worked on at Westlake Recording Studios, in Los Angeles. In September 2015, production moved to the Village and continued until January 20, 2016, the day Hacks handed the album's final track listing, artwork, and concept to Columbia executives. Hacks studied music production so he could also contribute to the album as a producer, and ended up working in all of the tracks. The album's editing and final touches took place between January and March 3, 2016. Hacks worked as the album's executive producer alongside Shipes and Kid Harpoon, and also contributed to the execution of its visual identity and photography.

Strange Intentions of a Stilted One is primarily a synthrock and dance-pop album, being influenced by other pop and rock music subgenres from late 1980s and early 1990s. According to Hacks, it is a "letter written to unburden my feelings towards childhood, adolescence and life itself". The singer further described the record's lyrics as messages from himself dedicated to his past, which influenced the musical atmosphere. The lyrics touch upon themes of self-forgiveness, family traumas, realizations from adulthood, and self-perception. Hacks wrote over 35 songs for the album, 20 of which were later selected by him and Harpoon to move forward to following steps of production. By September 2015, when production changed studios, the creative team had chosen the final cut of twelve tracks and were focused on refining them. Beyond songwriting and production, Hacks also played acoustic guitar and synthesizer and performed backing vocals and miscellaneous sounds in several tracks.

Strange Intentions of a Stilted One was initially promoted with the issue of its lead single, "A|Blow Up", released in October 2015 to commercial and critical success. In the United States, the song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making Hacks the fifth singer to have their debut single atop the chart. "A|Waterflow" was issued in February 2016, a month before the album's release, and achieved achieved lesser but equally favorable success. Both songs received music videos directed by Sophie Muller that attracted media attention and critical glorification. Three other singles were succeeded the album's release — "A|Accordingly", "A|Completely Out of It", and "A|Blurry" —, all of which had average performance in sales and reviews, but further stated Hacks' abilities with music videos. All five singles reached number one in the US, making Strange Intentions of a Stilted One the third album in history to have five number-one singles to top Billboard Hot 100. Hacks further promoted the album throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia with the Blow Up Tour, which took place between August 3, 2016, and June 30, 2017.

Upon its release, Strange Intentions of a Stilted One was met with critical acclaim. Reviewers praised its songwriting, "refined" production, visual presentation, and concept, and well as Hacks' vocal delivery, emotional performance, and music production knowledge. Side praise was directed towards the music videos associated to some of the album's tracks; in total, nine of the songs received videos directed by Muller. Some of the material was compared to works by Jean-Marc Vallée and associated to quality television. The album debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 chart, and reached number one in the following week, remaining atop for four consecutive weeks. By the end of 2016, it had sold over 1 million copies in the United States, making it the fifth-best-selling album of the year in the country, and it was the third-best-selling album of 2016, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), with 2.1 million copies sold worldwide.