The album was a commercial success in her home country, debuting at number one and being certified gold for shipments of over 30,000 units.

[5] After waiting several weeks for the fracture and resulting concussion to subside, she underwent surgery to remove a malignant brain tumour, and endured several months of chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

[7] Several songs on the record were composed by Bolyos while he was a member of Sugarcane; Fredriksson regularly joined that band on-stage – performing "All You've Gotta Do Is Feel", "Love 2 Live" and "Many Times", as well as numerous other original compositions and cover versions – during the band's concerts in Halmstad nightclub Penny Lane throughout the late '90s and early 2000s.

[10] Also included on The Change is a cover of "The Good Life", a jazz standard originally made famous by Tony Bennett.

[11] The album's cover art was created by Fredriksson, who began drawing with charcoal in her dining room as another form of therapy following her brain tumour diagnosis.

"[8] She found herself creating more artwork as recording of the album progressed, elaborating: "It was as if the music attracted the drawings as company, that it was a symbiotic relationship—one could not exist without the other.

"[8] She held her first professional art exhibition – titled "After the Change"[8] – in September 2005 at Galleri doktor Glas in Stockholm.

[11][18] The Change ended 2004 as the 18th best-selling album of the year in Sweden,[19] and was certified gold by the Swedish Recording Industry Association for shipments in excess of 30,000 units.

[22] A Swedish version of "A Table in the Sun" – "Ett bord i solen" – later appeared on Fredriksson's 2008 ballads compilation Tid för tystnad.

Aftonbladet called the record "extremely strong" and commended the quality of the lyrics, describing them as "private, to the extent that you can sometimes not listen without holding your breath.

"[26] Helsingborgs Dagblad complimented the lyrics as well, although their writer argued that – from a Swedish perspective – the use of the English language "acts like a filter, for good and bad, preventing the songs from becoming too emotional."

They also highlighted "Mother", calling it "magnificent"; Fredriksson's vocals were additionally praised as "the album's strongest instrument".

"[2] Conversely, Expressen was negative, saying: "After all that happened to Marie personally, this CD is of course an exciting and positive music event.

They were critical of the heavier production, lamenting the loss of the "light, melodious (and unique) pop feeling" found on her Swedish work.