In April 2019, Max announced that she would release her debut studio album that same year. In an interview with Billboard, she said that "there are some other tracks on there that are like wild cards, and there are a few that I'm being vulnerable in". She recorded over a hundred songs for the album, which she spent several months on deciding what to include. Heaven & Hell was initially completed in early 2019, but was delayed in order to improve the tracklist by adding more songs and removing one. In December 2019, Max hinted that the album would be released in the next few months. At the time, she confirmed that it was in the process of being finalized, but was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Max announced the release date of Heaven & Hell on July 29, 2020, which was accompanied by the release of the song "Who's Laughing Now?" the next day.
Max insisted on wanting an upbeat energy to the album so that it would be cohesive, reasoning that she does not want every song to sound the same. She described some songs as "very strong and empowering", while others "are a little bit more emotional", despite refusing to include a ballad. Heaven & Hell is split into two sides; Side A: Heaven, and Side B: Hell. The former consists of songs which serve as anthems, while the latter consists of having "an angel and devil on your shoulder" and needing to navigate in different directions. The album's cover art portrays Max's asymmetric hair in two different colors.
Singles
Max released "Sweet but Psycho" as the first single of Heaven & Hell on August 17, 2018. The song became her breakthrough single, ultimately reaching number one in 22 countries and charting at number 10 on the BillboardHot 100 in the United States. She then released "So Am I" on March 7, 2019, which peaked at number one on the Polish Airplay Top 100 and reached the top 10 in 14 countries. "Torn" was released on August 19, 2019, where it reached the top 10 in Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. "Salt" was released on December 12, 2019, after receiving high streaming numbers on SoundCloud despite containing no prior marketing or promotion. It topped the Polish Airplay Top 100 and charted within the top 10 in Austria, Finland, Germany, Norway, Russia, Ukraine, and Switzerland. With the exception of "Sweet but Psycho", the previously released songs were revealed to be initially scrapped from the album, but were later included on the tracklist. "Kings & Queens" was released on March 12, 2020, which served as the fifth single for the album. It charted in the top 20 in Austria, Finland, Germany, Norway, Switzerland and the UK. "Who's Laughing Now?" was released along with a music video on July 30, 2020.
