The song's bridge documents the collapse of Gabriel's romantic relationships through the lyrical metaphor of a crumbling house and features bass runs from Tony Levin.
[1] To achieve the percussive bass tones on "Secret World", Levin struck the strings with funk fingers, a set of specialized drumsticks attached to the digits that he developed while touring Gabriel's So album in the 1980s.
[5] Gabriel invited Rebecca Horn to create the artwork for "Secret World", which was later included in the liner notes for US and exhibited at the London Contemporary Art Fair in 1993.
"[7] After her first listen to the song, Horn purchased a suitcase from a flea market in Berlin and attached various objects to its interior, including a violin bow, a set of binoculars, and a device resembling a butterfly.
"[9] Karla Peterson of the Oxnard Press-Courier thought that the "quiet closing chords of the conciliatory Secret World" contributed to the personal and introspective nature of Us.
[11] In his book Without Frontiers: The Life and Music of Peter Gabriel, Daryl Easlea said that "Secret World" was "possibly the greatest thing he has ever written and certainly on par with his most notable successes.
In a concert review for his performance at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Jon Bream of the Star Tribune noted Gabriel's choreography during the song, where he skipped and twirled around the stage with a tambourine and bounced behind his keyboard while a giant balloon descended from above.