Come Clean marked a shift to a style more informed by dance and electronic music than Curve's earlier records.

Significantly, the commercial success of and critical acclaim for Come Clean – at least relative to the reception that the group's harsher and less accessible 1993 album Cuckoo had received – encouraged Curve to continue recording.

[citation needed] Stuart Derdeyn of The Province wrote that Come Clean found Curve "updating its sound to better reflect the noise and punch of contemporary electronic rock".

Club's Joshua Klein said that the band expanded on the dance and electronic elements of their previous albums, with the music on Come Clean placing a heavier emphasis on "big beats".

[8] Pitchfork critic Chris Ott noted the album's "danceable drum loops" and "blurry, detached" vocals, as well as its influence from trip hop band Portishead and the "ascendant club-techno" sound of The Chemical Brothers.