[5] Singles such as "Violence of Summer (Love's Taking Over)" and "Serious" failed to make significant chart impacts, while much of the album's material was met with indifference or outright criticism from the press.

[5] The remaining members faced personal and professional challenges: John Taylor struggled with his mental health, Rhodes was navigating a difficult marital breakup while caring for a young child, and Le Bon expressed a desire to escape to a quieter life by the sea.

[6] With a modest setup that included a sequencer, drum machine, synthesisers, and Cuccurullo's guitar rig, the band aimed for a relaxed, cost-effective environment compared to traditional studio sessions.

Producer John Jones, who joined the project midway, described his workstation as including an Atari running Notator and an Akai S1000 sampler.

[5] According to Taylor, this was the first time the label implemented a tightly controlled A&R process, granting funding incrementally based on the quality of the material submitted.

[6] By the end of these initial sessions, the band had composed a significant collection of material, including "Love Voodoo", "Sin of the City", "Too Much Information", "U.M.F.

[6] Later in the process, the band added two more tracks to the album: a cover of the Velvet Underground's "Femme Fatale" and "Come Undone", featuring backing vocals from Tessa Niles.

[10] Speaking to Forbes, Jones described the approach as one focused on making music they genuinely enjoyed, free from rigid formulas or constraints.

[10] David Chiu of Forbes described it as a "hard-rocking" commentary on mass media, inspired by the band's reflections on the Gulf War and their frustrations with the entertainment industry.

[10] Annie Zaleski of Ultimate Classic Rock noted its "keyboard-propelled" style and highlighted lyrics such as "Destroyed by MTV / I hate to bite the hand that feeds me so much information" as emblematic of the band's critique of overexposure.

[4] Le Bon explained in Behind the Music that the song was a way to let go of sadness and move forward: "But I won't cry for yesterday / There's an ordinary world...," he wrote, reflecting his desire to find peace and resilience.

[13] Co-producer John Jones reflected on the song's creation in an interview with Forbes, recalling the informal recording process in which the band incorporated spontaneous clapping and ambient sounds.

[14] Roinestad handled the layout while Egan worked closely with the band to ensure that the visual concept aligned with their artistic vision.

[15] Dineley further noted that "like the music it packaged, the design seemed to reference a diversity of influences", such as the raw illustrative style of Jean-Michel Basquiat and the pop-art print effects reminiscent of Andy Warhol, the latter also visible on the single cover for "Too Much Information".

[14] He recalled, "It was this concept that convinced me that this was going to be something special visually, but it also made me realize that Duran were one of the most innovative and creative bands of theirs – and subsequent – generations.

"[14] Egan's main concern was to avoid the kitsch aesthetic often associated with wedding photography, which he described as "white, lacey with silver horse-shoe confetti decorations".

[16][18] To their surprise, "Ordinary World" received positive reception from listeners and was a hit at radio stations, sparking a renewed interest in the band's music.

Sam Wood of the Philadelphia Inquirer described the album as a potential "second coming of the Duranies", praising the shift toward "pop respectability" with tracks like the ballad "Ordinary World".

"[1] In contrast, Jim Farber of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a "D" rating, criticising its production as "overproduced" and the songwriting as lacking the memorable melodies of the band's earlier work.

[24] He described "Ordinary World" as a weaker derivative of its influences and singled out the cover of the Velvet Underground's "Femme Fatale" and the collaboration with Nascimento as ineffective.

[23] Similarly, Clark Collis of Select acknowledged the success of singles like "Ordinary World" but criticised the album for inconsistent quality and a lack of innovation, suggesting that it rarely matched the high points of its standout tracks.

[8] He highlighted "Ordinary World" and "Come Undone" as standout tracks, calling them "wonderful pop singles", but noted weaker moments, such as the cover of the Velvet Underground's "Femme Fatale".