Shortly after being discovered by Mark, she moved to Melbourne, Australia to follow her path in the music industry, signing with Forum 5.

Musically, Kimbra was heavily influenced by Björk, The Mars Volta, Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright and others during the creation of Vows.

She wanted the album to have an overall jazzy feel, thus trying make a record that pushes boundaries but still be considered "pop music".

Kimbra has stated the following quote as a summary of the album's concept and overall feel: "Vows say a lot about who you are, and even more when we choose to break them."

[8] Lydia Jenkin, of The New Zealand Herald's Time Out magazine, gave Vows 4/5 stars, praising Kimbra's "exciting vocal experiments on this colourful debut with impressive range".

[14] Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone gave a positive review of the album, comparing the material to that of Björk.