Recorded in Los Angeles and London, Cheryl mainly worked with Wayne Wilkins, who previously produced Cole's number one debut single "Fight for This Love".

American producer J. R. Rotem contributed "Better to Lie", while Cole worked with British electronic musician Starsmith, Al Shux, and Free School for the first time.

"[4] Cole is seen in a bright pink and orange off-the-shoulder dress and five-inch animal print Christian Louboutin heels on the album cover, which was unveiled on 14 October 2010.

"[10] Tabloids suggested that the lyrics were based upon her divorce from footballer Ashley Cole, and how her dancer friend Derek Hough nursed her to health while she was suffering from malaria.

[12][13] "Live Tonight", produced by will.i.am, includes a "Beach Boys-go-native breakdown completing the tug on the collective houseinflected heartstrings" and "a blissful synth line".

[3][12] According to Simon Price, "Live Tonight" is a "piece of sub-Lauper skinny-tie pop/rock which will have the writers of Rod Stewart's "Young Turks" consulting their lawyers.

[14] "Amnesia" was initially rumoured to be a Britney Spears cover from that singer's 2008 album, Circus; however, it is an original track produced by Wilkins and Steve Kipner.

[14] It was called "a celebratory jam aimed firmly at Friday night" and "a Freeze-sampling electro-stomper that makes the Geordie lass sound almost New York cool.

A predominantly positive review came from Jon O'Brien of AllMusic who awarded it four out of five stars, saying that "Messy Little Raindrops is a cohesive and adventurous follow-up that will undoubtedly continue [Cole's] ascent into pop's premier league", and praising the songs "Promise This", "Amnesia" and "Happy Tears".

[18] Tom Hocknell of BBC Music was generally positive, labeling Messy Little Raindrops a "competent and frequently enjoyable pop album".

[12] Johnny Dee of Virgin Media noticed that with Messy Little Raindrops Cole is "returning to base" and described it as "good, clean, family-friendly fun".

Lisa Wright of Dotmusic said, "if there are no hooks, no catchy melody or at least something to put a swagger in your step then you're left with a song that's lyrically obvious and musically banal - and no-one wants that [...] Of course it's not all bad and 'Messy Little Raindrops' still shines with moments of pop brilliance.

[23] Maddy Costa of The Guardian wrote further, "Coming from a member of one of the most forward-looking pop acts of the 21st century, Messy Little Raindrops feels curiously dated.

"[20] It received two stars out of five from Andy Gill of The Independent, who wrote that "Cole delve[s] further into her experience for Messy Little Raindrops; sadly, most of the album simply continues its predecessor's tedious romantic arguments, with only a couple of songs drawing on her more traumatic illness.

[26] "Promise This" was premiered on Chris Moyles' BBC Radio 1 breakfast show on 14 September, where it was introduced as the lead single from Messy Little Raindrops.

She donned a white tuxedo jacket, "frilly black knickers", knee-high zebra print tights, and leather boots and was joined by multiple back-up dancers.

"Everyone", featuring Dizzee Rascal, was slated as the third single and was to be released on 21 March 2011, but was cancelled due to Cheryl's involvement on the US version of The X Factor and the underperformance of "The Flood".

She donned a white tuxedo jacket, "frilly black knickers", knee-high zebra print tights, and leather boots and was joined by multiple back-up dancers.