The album was re-released under the title "Devotion – The Gold Edition" on 15 April 2013 in the United Kingdom, containing a bonus disc with four tracks, including a new single, "Imagine It Was Us" and "Valentine" – a previously released collaboration with musician Sampha in 2011.

Ware's vocal performance also received positive remarks, with music critics praising her being "faithful to melody over melisma" and her background as a backing vocalist.

[9] It also attained commercial success for Ware, becoming her first top-five entry on the UK Albums Chart, her first to receive a Gold certificate and to date, her best-selling release.

In the years prior to releasing her first solo album, Ware did backing vocals at live shows for Jack Peñate (who took her on tour in America) and Man Like Me.

Production for Devotion came primarily from Dave Okumu of alternative rock band the Invisible, whom produced twelve out of fourteen original recordings used for the album.

Fellow UK musician and collaborator Sampha and Hassan Hamandi also contributed to two songs from the deluxe edition of the album, namely "Strangest Feeling" and "What You Won't Do for Love", with the former being released digitally on 14 October 2011 and the latter being premiered on 22 May 2012.

[25] Devotion opens with the eponymous album track, a "dark and dense" song that hints at "passion's underbelly" with deep bass hit that portraits sonic signature by Okumu.

[27][28] It was followed by the first single "Running", which saw Ware "slinks and sighs" over a yacht-rock groove, "explodes at a key moment, then backs off again for an affecting conclusion", gaining comparisons to that of Sade for her "poised and pure" voice over "drums echo" and "repeated guitar lick" which gave the song a "lovely, sultry" sound.

[31] Meanwhile, the album's fourth track "Still Love Me" contains "growing loop" of effects and instruments that recalled the work of her previous collaborator SBKTRT, while "No to Love" is a song that contains "grungy guitar loops, ADD beats, and rap verse from a Flight of the Conchords sound-alike"[32] The album's ninth track, "110%", is a "gorgeously restrained summer smash" and "bubbly, even-keeled house" song Ware co-wrote with producer Bashmore.

The song was described as a "sugar rush dance-floor gem", with "bubbling" synth bass and "quicksilver" percussion that sees Ware singing about "a girl trying to get him off his throne and dance."

[35] With "Imagine It Was Us", the album's only new song on its re-issue edition, Ware offers her "most fun" tune with the "slinky, sultry '90s-style" house track that joins "the charge of disco revolution.

"[36] It was co-written by Ware, Bashmore, Brey Baptista, Dave Corney and Jimmy Napes, with the latter most known for his work with musician duo Disclosure and fellow British singer-songwriter Sam Smith.

[41] In addition, "Wildest Moments" became Ware's biggest hit in Belgian, peaking at number three on the Belgium Ultratop 50 Flanders chart for two weeks, as well as one of her only songs to receive a Silver certificate by BRIT so far.

[43][44] Following her signing deal with Cherrytree Records for further promotion activities in the United States, Ware eventually released a US-exclusive eponymous extended play for "If You're Never Gonna Move" on 15 January 2013.

[49] Mike Diver of BBC Music wrote, "Devotion is the sort of sophisticated, soulful pop record that comes along all too rarely, a collection that never hides the heart on its sleeve.

[2] Tim Jonze of The Guardian wrote, "Sophisticated, smooth and sensual, in the wrong hands Devotion could easily have been a footnote in the New Boring movement, that vibrant strain of youth culture that has already given us Emeli Sandé, Adele and Bruce Springsteen concerts that wrestle with the spacetime continuum itself.

Instead it quietly works its magic, a genuinely individual statement by an artist who didn't expect to become a pop star, but might struggle to stop it happening anyway – after all, the groove is in her heart".