diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index ee9557f5d98..37dc02d23a8 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -272,7 +272,7 @@ jobs:
             eval "$(conda shell.bash hook)"
             conda activate env
             cd packages/javascript/jupyterlab-plotly
-            npm install
+            npm ci
             npm run build:prod
             git status
 
@@ -283,10 +283,12 @@ jobs:
             conda activate env
             cd packages/python/plotly
             python setup.py sdist bdist_wheel
+            mkdir pypi_dist
+            tar czf pypi_dist/all.tgz dist
 
       - store_artifacts:
-          path: packages/python/plotly/dist
-          destination: dist
+          path: packages/python/plotly/pypi_dist
+          destination: pypi_dist
 
       - run:
           name: Conda Build
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 49170a32a0d..535a008d245 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,13 @@
 All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 This project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/).
 
+## [5.8.1] - 2022-06-08
+
+### Fixed
+
+  - Fixed a syntax error that caused rendering issues in Databricks notebooks and likely elsewhere. [#3763](https://github.com/plotly/plotly.py/pull/3763) with thanks to [@fwetdb](https://github.com/fwetdb)
+
+
 ## [5.8.0] - 2022-05-09
 
 ### Fixed
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 39c11e583ce..52510f17b72 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
 
 ## Quickstart
 
-`pip install plotly==5.8.0`
+`pip install plotly==5.8.1`
 
 Inside [Jupyter](https://jupyter.org/install) (installable with `pip install "jupyterlab>=3" "ipywidgets>=7.6"`):
 
@@ -78,13 +78,13 @@ Built on top of [plotly.js](https://github.com/plotly/plotly.js), `plotly.py` is
 plotly.py may be installed using pip...
 
 ```
-pip install plotly==5.8.0
+pip install plotly==5.8.1
 ```
 
 or conda.
 
 ```
-conda install -c plotly plotly=5.8.0
+conda install -c plotly plotly=5.8.1
 ```
 
 ### JupyterLab Support
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ The instructions above apply to JupyterLab 3.x. **For JupyterLab 2 or earlier**,
 
 ```
 # JupyterLab 2.x renderer support
-jupyter labextension install jupyterlab-plotly@5.8.0 @jupyter-widgets/jupyterlab-manager
+jupyter labextension install jupyterlab-plotly@5.8.1 @jupyter-widgets/jupyterlab-manager
 ```
 
 Please check out our [Troubleshooting guide](https://plotly.com/python/troubleshooting/) if you run into any problems with JupyterLab.
diff --git a/packages/javascript/jupyterlab-plotly/package-lock.json b/packages/javascript/jupyterlab-plotly/package-lock.json
index 74a93e86d42..bb834e4791e 100644
--- a/packages/javascript/jupyterlab-plotly/package-lock.json
+++ b/packages/javascript/jupyterlab-plotly/package-lock.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "jupyterlab-plotly",
-  "version": "5.8.0",
+  "version": "5.8.1",
   "lockfileVersion": 1,
   "requires": true,
   "dependencies": {
diff --git a/packages/javascript/jupyterlab-plotly/package.json b/packages/javascript/jupyterlab-plotly/package.json
index 69e3a3c01c6..4bb9852a567 100644
--- a/packages/javascript/jupyterlab-plotly/package.json
+++ b/packages/javascript/jupyterlab-plotly/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "jupyterlab-plotly",
-  "version": "5.8.0",
+  "version": "5.8.1",
   "description": "The plotly Jupyter extension",
   "author": "The plotly.py team",
   "license": "MIT",
diff --git a/packages/python/plotly/plotly/_widget_version.py b/packages/python/plotly/plotly/_widget_version.py
index 1cee3831be8..3c870f11013 100644
--- a/packages/python/plotly/plotly/_widget_version.py
+++ b/packages/python/plotly/plotly/_widget_version.py
@@ -2,4 +2,4 @@
 # for automated dev builds
 #
 # It is edited by hand prior to official releases
-__frontend_version__ = "^5.8.0"
+__frontend_version__ = "^5.8.1"
diff --git a/release.md b/release.md
index 07df8b0a0e7..fdf05827efe 100644
--- a/release.md
+++ b/release.md
@@ -29,8 +29,9 @@ a link to the plotly.js CHANGELOG.
 
 ### Finalize versions
 
-Manually update the versions to `X.Y.Z` in the files
-specified below.
+**Create a branch `git checkout -b release-X.Y.Z`.**
+
+Manually update the versions to `X.Y.Z` in the files specified below.
 
  - `CHANGELOG.md`
    + update the release date
@@ -40,15 +41,16 @@ specified below.
    + Update `__frontend_version__` to `^X.Y.Z` (Note the `^` prefix)
  - `packages/javascript/jupyterlab-plotly/package.json`
    + Update `"version"` to `X.Y.Z`
-   + Ensure you're using `node` version 12 and `npm` version 6 to minimize diffs to `package-lock.json`
-   + Ensure you're in a Python virtual environment with JupyterLab 3 installed
-   + Run `rm -rf node_modules && npm install && npm run clean && npm run build:prod`
- - Run `git diff` and ensure that only the files you modified and the build artifacts have changed
- - Ensure that the diff in `package-lock.json` seems sane
- - Commit and tag but *don't push* until after everything is available on NPM/PyPI/Conda (see below):
-   + `git commit -a -m "release vX.Y.Z"`
+ - `packages/javascript/jupyterlab-plotly/package-lock.json`
+   + Update `"version"` to `X.Y.Z`
+ - Commit and add this specific tag which `versioneer` will pick up, and push to Github so that CI will build the release artifacts:
+   + `git commit -a -m "version changes for vX.Y.Z"`
    + `git tag vX.Y.Z`
+   + `git push --atomic origin release-X.Y.Z vX.Y.Z`
+
+### Download and check CI Artifacts
 
+<WIP>
 
 ### Publishing to PyPI