In 1998 Gyan travelled to the United States to start work on a third album titled Suburban Opera, with producer Desmond Child. It was not released in its entirety: a promo-only single, "Don't Hide Your Wild Away", was issued in 2001 and in 2003 most of its tracks first appeared as The Invisible Bird via Gyan's website. Meanwhile, she sang backing vocals on Ricky Martin's track "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely" from his album, Sound Loaded. She signed to Universal Records and worked as a songwriter for US country music singer, LeAnn Rimes. Rimes, who covered Gyan's song "Love Is an Army" on her album Twisted Angel, recalled:
