The seeds for the album were sown when Mike Chapman, Quatro's original producer and composer of most of her hits, approached her with plans to take her back to her roots.

"Strict Machine", a song originally performed by Goldfrapp, even contains a two line teaser from Quatro's number one hit "Can the Can", to show the similarities of the two tracks.

[citation needed] Alan Pedder of Wears the Trousers magazine reviewed the single "Whatever Love Is" and went on to comment about some other album tracks.

[11] By contrast, reviewing the album, Jones wrote that "Breaking Dishes" "yield[s] surprisingly well to a fundamentalist glam treatment and the gutsiness of Quatro's vocal approach".

O'Brien concluded that "a misguided attempt at cod-reggae aside ("Hurt with You"), In the Spotlight is an impressive comeback, which admirably doesn't rely solely on nostalgia to make itself heard".

[3] The musicians Nat Allison, Jez Davies, Owen Martin, and Mike Chapman contributed to all of the tracks except "Singing with Angels".

[3] Wears the Trousers Magazine (in its reviews of the album and of the associated single "Whatever Love Is") refers to "Wanda Jackson’s ‘Hard Headed Woman’".