Grammy 2018, Paras rock-albumi -ehdokas.

QOTSA:n levyn nimi on Villains ja sen on tuottanut Mark Ronson. Edellisellä, 2013 julkaistulla, ...Like Clockwork -albumilla QOTSA nousi monissa maissa listaykköseksi ja myös ensimmäistä kertaa Yhdysvaltain albumilistan kärkeen. Levy on siis Mark Ronsonin tuottama, jonka satunnaisesti valittuja aikaisempia tuotantoja on mm. Adele, Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, Bruno Mars, Paul McCartney ja listaa voisi jatkaa loputtomiin. Ronson on myös vankka QOTSA-fani ja kertoo roolistaan levyn parissa näin: "Queens are and have always been my favorite rock n roll band ever since I walked into Tower on Sunset and bought Rated R in the summer of 2000, so it was incredibly surreal to be welcomed into their secret, pirate clan - or the 'jacuzzi' as Josh likes to call it. I also knew that my super fandom alone would not keep me in the jacuzzi. There were moments during the making of the album in which i was aware i was watching my musical heroes craft something that was sure to become one of my favorite moments on any Queens album. And to have some part in that felt like being in a dream-- a very heavy, dark, wonderful dream." Queens of the Stone Agen nokkamies Joshua Homme kertoo Villains-prosessista näin: "The most important aspect of making this record was redefining our sound, asking and answering the question 'what do we sound like now?'. If you can't make a great first record, you should just stop - but if you can make a great record but you keep making records and your sound doesn't evolve, you become a parody of that original sound."