After leaving Pete Waterman Entertainment, Minogue wanted to establish her credibility and signed with the independent record label Deconstruction in early 1993.

To promote the album, a limited edition coffee-table book photographed by Ellen von Unwerth and Katerina Jebb was released to highfliers.

[11] Minogue took an active role in planning for the album and sought a diverse group of collaborators to work with, including both mainstream and underground talents.

[12] In an interview with NME, Keith Cameron wrote that Minogue "talks in the amazed tones of a blind child who has just rediscovered the gift of sight", with regard to the making of the album.

[16] Bob Stanley of Saint Etienne remarked that the singer's camp "had no idea what they wanted, apart from being different from the SAW stuff", though he expressed his amazement at her powerful voice that SAW's double tracking had masked.

[23] Hadfield and fellow Deconstruction co-founder Keith Blackhurst were friends with Steve Anderson and Dave Seaman, an electronic duo known as Brothers in Rhythm.

[27] Minogue's stylist William Baker found her to be the "perfect vehicle" for the duo's hybrids: "Her vocal range and willingness to experiment musically meant that Steve and Dave could push the envelope further.

[29] A cover version of Prefab Sprout's "If You Don't Love Me" was recorded in only one take, as the producers wanted to experiment with Minogue's musical boundaries.

(originally recorded by Within A Dream in 1993),[31] "Automatic Love" (a rework from material with the Rapino Brothers),[18] "Confide in Me" and "Dangerous Game" (both songs written and produced by the duo).

[34] Minogue recorded a song entitled "Intuition" during these sessions, which was shelved until 2019, when Harry gave the demo to American singer Liz for her album Planet Y2K.

[36] The demo for "Falling" was sent to Deconstruction, where it was reworked by Fire Island, an English music duo made up of Pete Heller and Terry Farley.

[38] Chris True of AllMusic wrote that the album is a remarkable change from Minogue's previous teen pop material with an "atmosphere and style in the songs that wasn't there on Let's Get to It".

[39] In the biography Kylie: Naked (2012), Nigel Goodall and Jenny Stanley-Clarke describe the album as a collection of "upbeat dance tracks, lightweight funky numbers and smoochy ballads".

[49] "Put Yourself in My Place" is a melancholy quiet storm power ballad with trip hop beats that resembles late 1980s American R&B tracks.

[16] The closer track, "Time Will Pass You By", encapsulates Minogue's trademark joie de vivre message: not taking life for granted and enjoying it to its fullest.

"[58] Jon Casimir of The Sydney Morning Herald noticed her Mid-Atlantic accent on the album, with the exception of a monologue on "If I Was Your Lover", which he thought sounds more American than Madonna does.

[64] In the biography Kylie (2014), Sean Smith says Minogue posed like "a leopard sizing up her prey" while wearing Clark Kent glasses, further writing that the cover is remarkably different from her previous ones.

[65] Tamasin Doe of Evening Standard noted the cover reflects the trend of wearing glasses to be taken seriously, and linked Minogue's solemn image to the television series Joe 90.

[66] Christian Guiltenane of Classic Pop comments that Minogue's image had changed considerably in just five years, saying the shots are a mix of "sultry poses, avant garde styling and sex".

[67] A replica of the green taffeta suit that Minogue worn for the cover shot was donated to the Cultural Gifts Program of the Arts Centre Melbourne.

[71] Charles Shaar Murray of The Daily Telegraph suggested the artwork shows two different sides of Minogue, an intelligent modern woman with deep desires.

[72] Bowler commented that by subtly adding Minogue's surname to the title, as well as her formal outfit and lascivious pose on the cover, she successfully announced "the arrival of a more sophisticated artist" who wanted to be taken seriously.

[73] In Japan, it was released on 21 October 1994 by the former of the two labels with two bonus tracks: "Love Is Waiting" (written by Tracy Ackerman, Mike Percy and Tim Lever of Dead or Alive) and "Nothing Can Stop Us".

[88] Baker provided many old punk-style costumes for Minogue; among them was a 1970s sleeveless Marilyn Monroe T-shirt that once belonged to a staff member at Andy Warhol's the Factory studio.

[67] In the music video, directed by Paul Boyd, Minogue plays six different versions of herself, filming a commercial for a phone number and inviting viewers to call and reveal their secrets.

[3] Directed by Kier McFarlane, the music video recreates the opening sequence of the classic Jane Fonda film Barbarella (1968), while Minogue performs a slow striptease inside a spacecraft.

[101] Brothers In Rhythm handled the remix for the single release, replacing the "bright and breezy vocal" of the album version with a murmured verse and a bass heavy backing track.

[72] Writing for Playboy, Marc Andrews found the album mature enough but the producers tried too hard to push Minogue's limited vocal range into soul diva territory.

[117] Bowler commented that the 2016 reissue of Kylie Minogue was especially apposite in the contemporary well-crafted pop scene by the likes of Taylor Swift and Carly Rae Jepsen.

[120] The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) certified Kylie Minogue gold within a month of the album's release for selling over 100,000 copies in the UK.