"The First Lady" received positive reviews from most music critics upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 72, based on 17 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". In his review for Allmusic, Andy Kellman wrote that "if there was any creative block during [Evans'] time away, it doesn't show. In fact, "The First Lady" proves that she only gets better with time, as she goes through more ups and downs and continues to absorb her inspirations." He called the first four tracks the highlights of the album, which he rated four out of five stars, and went on to praise "The First Lady", calling it as "well-rounded as an R&B album gets, regardless of the age it's part of. In review of her 2010 album "Something About Faith" he called "The First Lady" "one of Faith Evans' strongest albums". It smartly incorporates throwback aspects into state-of-the-art pop-soul." Belinda Boakye from "The Situation" complimented the "unfailing spirit and soul" on the album, giving it a score of 3.5 out of 5, and commented that "this long anticipated album marks a metamorphosis for Faith Evans into a state of musical autonomy. With 52 minutes of silky vocals and a variation of infectious beats and slow sultry rhythm and blues, this record has all the ingredients needed making it emulate the class and tightly toned sound of Evans’ new physical appearance."