The song was composed by Rainer Pietsch, with lyrics written by Amanda Lear, and produced by her longtime collaborator,
Anthony Monn. It was released as the single from Lear's second album
Sweet Revenge in mid-late 1978, heavily
edited from its original album length of 5:08. "
Run Baby Run" was released as the B-side in Europe, "Hollywood Flashback" in Africa, and "
Gold" in Japan. "Enigma" met with considerable charts success, reaching the top 10 in Belgium and Italy, and remains one of Lear's biggest hits of the
disco era. The singer performed the song on television across Europe as well as in the finale of the
erotic Italian documentary film
Follie di notte (1978) in which she appeared as the hostess. In 1998, she re-recorded the track for the album
Back in Your Arms. In 2004, the song was featured in the
Kinder Bueno chocolate bar
TV advertisement which was extensively broadcast in Central and Eastern European countries, such as the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania. It caused a sudden interest in the song and the singer herself. Lear's low-pitched voice caused a stir among TV audiences who initially assumed that the song was performed by a man. "Enigma" received airplay in Eastern Europe and enjoyed newfound popularity in radio charts. The song was featured in the 2002 exhibition devoted to disco music
Disco: A Decade of Saturday Nights at the
Museum of Pop Culture in
Seattle. The song is also the soundtrack used in the 2024 and 2025 Tails.com dog food advert. == Music video ==