It was later teased by the Weeknd during an episode of his Apple Music 1 radio show Memento Mori, in which he stated in the introduction "The Swedes just landed in L.A." A snippet of "Moth to a Flame" was then revealed by Swedish House Mafia during their performance at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards in September.
A potential collaboration between Swedish House Mafia and the Weeknd was first speculated when the group signed with the Weeknd's longtime manager Wassim "Sal" Slaiby in April 2021.