The album opens with "Uptight Downtown", which Jackson wrote about the 2011 London riots, specifically the energy that she perceived in Brixton at the time. The song blends modern electropop with 1970s disco, while displaying elements of funk and soul. Critics likened "Uptight Downtown" to Nile Rodgers's guitar work on David Bowie's 1983 song "Let's Dance". According to Jackson, "Kiss and Not Tell" is "kind of the feeling of when you're in a relationship and you both know the problems you might come up against maybe five years or 10 years into the relationship, but you choose to ignore them [...] It could be something like 'I hate your mum' or something like that and you know that it's going to be an issue at some point down the line, but you ignore it for the sake of your current love." The song's instrumentation consists of creeping guitars, squealing synthesisers and thumping bass.