The opening track, "Better the Devil You Know", is a dance-pop song with worldbeat influences, in which Minogue struggles with a lover's flaws. SAW wrote the song as a response to Minogue's departure from "Neighbours" and her over-publicised romantic relationships with Donovan and Hutchence. Joe Sweeney of "PopMatters" compared Minogue's delivery with that of Madonna. A disco song about the love of music, "Step Back in Time" is one of a few non-relationship-themed tracks by Minogue; it pays homage to 1970s disco music by referencing titles and catchphrases, and includes uncredited samples of Bobby Byrd's song "Hot Pants – I'm Coming, Coming, I'm Coming" (1972) and B. T. Express's song "Give Up the Funk (Let's Dance)" (1980). Adams described the track as "Motown meets Hi-NRG meets Studio 54" and said it may have laid the path for her disco-related material. The rave-infused track "What Do I Have To Do" features piano lines, whooshing noises, and built-in rushes. The song was compared with Madonna's "Vogue" (1990), Black Box's "Ride on Time" (1989), and Deee-Lite's "Groove is in the Heart" (1990). In the lyrics, Minogue tries to get a man to know how much she loves him with a more mature approach; the song includes lyrics such as "There ain't a single night / When I haven't held you tight / But it's always inside my head / Never inside my bed."