Minogue wrote the song with Anya Jones, Camille "Kamille" Purrell, Jon Green, and producers Duck Blackwell and Richard "Biff" Stannard.
[2] The first sessions began with longtime collaborators Richard "Biff" Stannard, Duck Blackwell, and Jon Green, as well as Minogue's A&R Jamie Nelson, and they completed several songs while in Surrey.
[a] Minogue, Blackwell, Green, Stannard, and Nelson planned embrace 1980s music and culture on Tension, but they later abandoned the idea and decided not to focus on a specific theme.
[18] According to Paste editor Devon Codizin, the song and album track "You Still Get Me High" "start slow and minimal, building a healthy tension before Kylie launches into a euphoric chorus.
"[19] Crack editor Michael Cragg likened it to Xenomania's "featherlight electronics on the verses, hints of guitar throughout, and then a sudden sonic whoosh that rockets the chorus skywards.
In comparison to the rest of the album, Neil Z. Yeung of AllMusic felt the track and "You Still Get Me High" "gears to hyperspeed with urgent singalong choruses, decade-appropriate synths, and dramatic sax breaks.
"[23] PopMatters editor Peter Piatkowski praised Minogue's "big-hearted joy and life" on the track, saying it demonstrated how she is "one of the most humane pop singers captured on vinyl.
"[8] PinkNews editor Marcus Wratten rated it as the fifth best track on Tension, calling it a "instant classic" and "a potential hit for Kylie when the days get warmer again next spring.
"[25] According to Oral Foster of Loud and Quiet, the song and "You Still Get My High" are "blissfully anachronistic '80s synths that seem to nod to her old dungaree-and-perm days," while Alexa Camp of Slant Magazine describes it as "perfect fodder for a top-down cruise along the PCH.
"[14] According to Annabel Ross of The Sydney Morning Herald, the song, like "You Still Get My High," lacks originality in its sound and chorus delivery, but "it's fun to hear Minogue in punch-drunk Carly Rae Jepsen mode.
"[26] Guy Oddy of The Arts Desk was slightly critical, describing the song and "Vegas High" as one of the album's weaker tracks and calling the songwriting "trite.