While under this label, three of their albums have charted at number one in the UK, including Emergency on Planet Earth (1993), Synkronized (1999), A Funk Odyssey (2001), and the band's single, "Deeper Underground" (1998).

[1][2] During this time, Kay was influenced by Native American and First Nation peoples and their philosophies; this led to the creation of "When You Gonna Learn", a song covering social issues.

[13] Kevin L. Carter of The Philadelphia Inquirer commented that the album "is full of upbeat, multi-hued pop tunes based heavily in acid jazz, '70s fusion, funk and soul, reggae and world music".

[13] The album's ecologically charged concept gave Kay press coverage,[15] although Mark Jenkins of The Washington Post found the record's sloganeering "as crude as the music is slick".

[28] Ted Kessler of NME saw Travelling Without Moving as an improvement from previous albums,[29] while critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine commented that it did not have "uniform consistenc[ies]" in comparison.

[31] While Zender had not been involved in the album's songwriting, the group chose to scrap his recorded tracks to avoid lawsuits, and Nick Fyffe was recruited for new sessions.

[32] Some of the album's tracks, including "Canned Heat", display a hi-NRG and house style, while slower tempos on others were said to "ease the pressure for [Kay's] more romantic musings".

[32][35] It introduced guitarist Rob Harris, whose playing in the album "melts seductively into a mix that occasionally incorporates lavish orchestration", according to Jim Abbot of Orlando Sentinel.

[48] Critics have seen this as a return to their organic funk and soul style,[49][50] as it forgoes "the electro textures that followed the band into the new millennium", according to Luke Winkie of MusicOMH.

[54] Craig Jenkins of Vulture writes: "Arrangements that used to spill out over horn, flute, didgeridoo, and string accompaniments now lean closer to French house".

[55] By 2018, the group's line-up consisted of Kay, Harris, McKenzie, Johnson, Turner, percussionist Sola Akingbola, Nate Williams on guitar and keyboards and Howard Whiddett with Ableton Live.

[67] Tom Moon wrote that the band "embrac[es] old-school funk, Philly-soul strings, the crisp keyboard sounds of the '70s and even hints of jazz fusion", blending these with "agitated, aggressive dance rhythms to create an easygoing feel that looks both backward and forward".

[68] Ben Sisario facetiously commented that Jay Kay and Toby Smith as songwriters, "studied Innervisions-era [Stevie] Wonder carefully, and just about everything the group has recorded sounds like it could in fact have been played by [Wonder] himself.

[70] Other writers said Toby Smith's keyboard arrangements were "psychedelic and soulful",[33] and compared Stuart Zender's bass playing to the work of Marcus Miller.

[29][67][69][72] Kay was influenced by Roy Ayers, Herbie Hancock, Lou Donaldson, Grant Green, Sly Stone, Gil Scott-Heron, and hip-hop and its culture.

However, critics wrote that the band had focused more on "boy–girl seductions" and "having fun" rather than social justice,[35][79] and that Kay's interest in sports cars contradicts his earlier beliefs.

[2][11][80] Kay was reluctant to release Travelling Without Moving (1996), as it adopted a motorcar concept,[b] but he added: "just because I love to drive a fast car, that doesn't mean I believe in [destroying the environment.

]"[81] He also stated in separate interviews he was tired of being "[a] troubadour of social conscious[ness]",[15] and "after a while you realise that people won't boogie and dance to [politics].

[75][86] Helen Brown of The Telegraph was more critical, writing of a 2011 concert that there was no "deeply personal emotion" in its set list or in Kay's vocals, and "much of the material is exhilarating in the moment, forgettable thereafter".

[87] With their visual style being described as "sci-fi and futuristic",[88] Jamiroquai's music video of "Virtual Insanity" made them "icons of the music-video format", according to Spencer Kornhaber from The Atlantic.

[10] The illuminating helmet that appears in the music video for "Automaton" was designed by Moritz Waldemeyer for Kay to control its lights and movements and to portray him as an endangered species.

[92] Kay also often wears Native American head-dresses, which has met with criticism by Indian Country Today, commenting he had worn sacred regalia of the First Nations.

[94] "Miraculously, Jamiroquai managed to survive the acid-jazz crash of the early 90's, when kids traded mellow sounds like the Brand New Heavies, Young Disciples and Guru for the bed-of-nails wails of Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam."

As a prominent component of the London-based funk and acid-jazz movement of the 1990s,[73] writer Kenneth Prouty said: "few acid jazz groups have reached the level of visibility in the pop music mainstream as London-born Jamiroquai".

[95] Artists who mention the group as an influence include Chance the Rapper,[96] SZA,[97] Kamaal Williams,[98] the Internet,[99] Calvin Harris,[100] and Tyler, the Creator.

Whilst the band have received plaudits from American heavyweights such as Quincy Jones and Maurice White of Earth, Wind And Fire, Jamiroquai fight to be taken seriously in the UK.