Fronted by the top 10 singles "Kids in America" and "Chequered Love" and greeted with a generally positive response from critics, the album launched Wilde into stardom and remains one of her most popular recordings.

[9] Eric Chappe called the album an "immediately striking disc", citing the "'60s girl group mannerisms" and "Spector-esque drum sound" of "Water on Glass" while drawing comparisons to both Dusty Springfield and Debbie Harry.

[10] Writing for The Globe and Mail, Alan Niester again compared Wilde to Dusty Springfield and Debbie Harry, but called "2-6-5-8-0" and "You'll Never Be So Wrong" "extremely promising", describing the latter as "a moody and captivating ballad that stands head and shoulders above all the Blondie and Pat Benatar simulations.

[6] High Fidelity's Mitchell Cohen found Wilde's voice alternately "plaintive" and "shrill" but described the album as "entertaining" and "a lot of fun", again drawing comparisons to the music of the 1960s.

Kim later commented that, at that time in the industry, it was passé for a female to attempt to launch a serious career in pop music on her own, and that the backing band had been shown on the sleeve to give credibility to the album.