Fever was well received by critics upon its release, many of whom praised its production and commercial appeal. Over the years the album has received widespread critical acclaim and has been retrospectively declared the greatest album of Minogue's career, and became Minogue's best-selling album in the country.
In 1998, Minogue was dropped from her label Deconstruction following the poor commercial performance of her sixth studio album Impossible Princess. She instead signed on to Parlophone and released her seventh studio album Light Years. The disco and Europop-inspired album was a critical and commercial success, and was later certified four times-platinum in Minogue's native country Australia.
Soon after, Minogue began work on her eighth studio album Fever. On the album, she collaborated with producers and writers such as British singer-songwriter Cathy Dennis, who co-wrote two songs out of the three she co-produced, Rob Davis, who co-produced and co-wrote three songs, and Richard Stannard and Julian Gallagher, who co-produced and co-wrote five songs ("Love at First Sight", "In Your Eyes", "Love Affair", "Boy" and "Rendezvous at Sunset").
Fever was a dance-pop album, with prominent elements of 1970s-influenced disco and Europop. Jacqueline Hodges from BBC Music wrote that the album is not "pure pop", and is rather characterized by a more adventurous dance-oriented sound. Furthermore, Jaelani Turner-Williams of Stereogum retrospectively classified the record as a nu-disco album.
The lead single "Can't Get You Out of My Head" was a "robotic" midtempo dance and disco song. Many critics felt that various songs on the album, particularly "Come into My World", were similar to "Can't Get You Out of My Head". The title track and "Dancefloor" draw influences from synthpop and club music, respectively. "In Your Eyes" contains hints of disco and techno music. Minor influences of ambient music surface on the "atmospheric" "Fragile". Minogue's vocal delivery ranges from "sensuous" (in "More More More") to "sweet" (in "Your Love"). The latter track contains instrumentation from an acoustic guitar.
The lyrical content of Fever chiefly focused on themes of love and enjoyment, basically it was all about dancing, fucking, and having a good time". In the song "Love at First Sight", Minogue described how she fell in love with her partner at "first sight" and how it led to good things happening for her. "Can't Get You Out of My Head" was termed a "mystery" as the singer never mentions who her object of desire in the song is. Lynskey Dorian from The Guardian suggested that Minogue refers to either "a partner, an evasive one-night stand or someone who doesn't know she exists" as her obsession. The production of "Give It to Me" contrasted with its lyrics: Minogue urges her partner to "slow down," but the beat "goes in the opposite direction and tells your body to push it a little more on the dance floor." The lyrics of "Fragile" were simple and aim directly at the "[listener's] heart". "Come into My World" was a "plea for love" as Minogue invites her partner into her life. And finally On the "Dancefloor" focused on issues like dealing with an end of a relationship, with Minogue celebrating a break-up it in the music".
On the cover, which was photographed by Vincent Peters and inspired by the cover of Grace Jones' Island Life (1985), Minogue was seen "bound by a microphone cord, literally tied to her craft" and dressed in white leotard designed by Fee Doran, under the label of Mrs Jones, and shoes made by Manolo Blahnik.
Fever received generally favourable reviews from music critics. Certain critics gave the album an extremely positive review and praised the conception and production, calling it a "perfect album of gorgeous dance music" and claiming that "there probably won't be a better album like it all year long", also praised its simple and "comfortable" composition, terming it a "mature sound from a mature artist, and one that may very well re-establish Minogue for the VH1 generation". Althought some gave a negative review by call it as a painfully precise vocals and the sound as monoton.
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