The lyrics of "Debut" contain themes of love. They range from "flesh-and-blood passion" for another person to the love of life itself. According to "i-D", with a couple of exceptions, the songs of "Debut" fell into two types: "those where Björk addressed the listener as someone in pain and told them fireworks would light their nights and all would be well;" and "songs where she sang about her own pain." "The Face" stated that the album's lyrics "her love affair with language," while "The Sunday Times" felt that Björk "rigorously [avoided the obvious" by using lyrics that do not rhyme.