 "NME" described the album as "bar-raising pop" and called it a "whip-smart collection of retro R&B that's more Winehouse than Aguilera".Tim Finney of Pitchfork noted that the album's "big, risky strategic manoeuvre is a plush, post-coital riposte to Ciara's recent electro-pop revivalism, with many of the songs here investing in a deliberately frothy eighties sound that smears together Prince, Jam & Lewis, and the SOS Band", adding that "[t]he danger for [Amerie] is that in trying so hard to clinch this new style she leaves little room to assert her own individual qualities".Lou Thomas from BBC Music called the album "a mix of the sweat-drenched sublime and the saccharine ridiculous", while commenting that "[t]here's still a flavour of the percussive, filthy Washington DC Go-go sound that gives her music a satisfying and unique feel within the pop world, but at other times the sugar content will repulse all but those with the sweetest tune tooth."