Music critics gave the album 181920 favorable reviews, praising its overall sound but finding the material insufficient.

[b] The album also features three songs from her time with Toshiba-EMI: "Try Me (Watashi o Shinjite)", "Taiyou no Season", and "Stop the Music".

[5] These three songs were recorded with the Japanese girl group Super Monkeys and released on the compilation Original Tracks Vol.

[6] Stylistically, the album focuses on various dance-oriented sounds, including eurobeat ("Try Me (Watashi o Shinjite)", "Chase the Chance"), standard dance-pop ("Body Feels Exit", "You're My Sunshine", "How to Be a Girl", "Stop the Music"), and ballad-inspired tracks ("Sweet 19 Blues", "Can You Celebrate?

[7] Avex Trax first released 181920 in Japan on January 28, 1998, and later distributed in Hong Kong and Taiwan the same year.

[5] On July 1, a VHS and laserdisc format titled 181920 Films (1998) was released, containing most of the music videos from the album.

It was released a year earlier, on November 27, 1997, as a mini CD, and served as the commercial theme for Ginza Jewellery in Japan.

[6] Mills questioned the timing of its release, believing it was "premature to have a singles collection out so soon" and unusual given that it coincided with the rise of other Japanese singers, particularly Ayumi Hamasaki.

[6] Nonetheless, Mills stated that the material was "superior," but that it was a "short summation of the sound that changed J-Pop, circa 1996.