"Scared of the Dark" premiered on The Ken Bruce Show on BBC Radio 2 on 9 March, and was released as the lead single from the album the following day.

It is a disco song written by Carl Ryden and Fiona Bevan and performed mostly by band members Claire Richards and Faye Tozer.

[4] The group recorded each of their parts separately due to personal schedules as well as to keep their twentieth anniversary plans a secret from the public and the media.

[10] She recalled how the group used to record their vocals around a microphone in a booth together and how the process appeared to have changed in the twenty years since their split in 2001 where it is now done separately.

He continued to described "Scared of the Dark" as a "dramatic floorfiller" with an "ace" chorus, and praised Richards and Tozer for their "reliably strong vocals".

[7] The Huffington Post writer Matt Bagwell wrote that the song "harks back to that golden age of pop, but with a modern day sheen" and praised Steps for "wisely [avoiding]" not to sound too cool or too current.

[11] Writing for Entertainment Focus, Ellwood Hughes wrote that it, "is a classic slice of Steps with a modern twist and it fits effortlessly into their hits-packed back catalogue.

[13] Digital Spy writer Ian Sandswell described the song as an "absolute banger",[15] while Ben Travis of The Independent wrote that it "sounds like it was zapped through a wormhole right from 1999.

"[16] Following its release at midnight on 10 March 2017, "Scared of the Dark" reached number-one on the iTunes Store in the United Kingdom within twelve hours, displacing Ed Sheeran and Coldplay & The Chainsmokers to numbers two and three with "Galway Girl" and "Something Just Like This", respectively.