[4] Produced by singer and drummer Steve Jordan, it marked a change in Mayer's musical style, incorporating elements of blues and soul more heavily than in his previous work with pop rock.

In his column in the April 2005 issue of Esquire, Mayer wrote, "I'm obsessed with time lately, constantly crunching the numbers to get some sense of where I stand in the continuum.

"[9] In his column in the September 2005 issue of Esquire he confirmed the title, writing, "I've never experienced anything like the recording process involved in making Continuum, my third-album-to-be.

The song "Stop This Train" was written during a time of, what Mayer calls, "solitary refinement"; he was in bed suffering from double kidney stones and living in a hotel while finding a new residence.

The cover for the special edition features a grey background and silver text for the title, with the Columbia Records logo in black instead of white.

By the time of release, Mayer had performed almost all of the songs live at least once, either with a full band or alone in an acoustic set during the Hotel Cafe shows from the previous winter.

On August 23, 2006, the entire Continuum album was played on Los Angeles radio station STAR 98.7, with the segment hosted by Mayer himself.

[12] He repeated the event for different media outlets several more times before the album's September release, such as "Sneak Peek" through Clear Channel Music; he also performed three songs live for Sessions@AOL.

Mayer performed the single "Gravity" at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards with fellow musicians Corinne Bailey Rae and John Legend.

On November 20, 2007, a special edition of Continuum was released that included a bonus disc of six live tracks and a 20-page booklet containing photos from the tour.

As of August 2018, Continuum has sold four million copies[17] in the United States and is Mayer's third consecutive multi-platinum selling studio album.

[21] Matt Collar of AllMusic called it "a gorgeously produced, brilliantly stripped-to-basics album that incorporates blues, soft-funk, R&B, folk and pop in a sound that is totally owned by Mayer.

"[2] Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times commented that Mayer is "best when treading softly, finding the fluid heart of blue-eyed soul", rather than on more "angst"-filled songs.

"[25] MSN Music's Robert Christgau gave Continuum a three-star honorable mention,[29] indicating "an enjoyable effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well treasure".

[30] He cited "Waiting on the World to Change" and "The Heart of Life" as highlights and quipped, "Saying in so many words what his less-gifted, more-pretentious contemporaries think it's cool to camouflage".

[29] Anthony DeCurtis, writing in Rolling Stone, called it "a smart, breezy album that deftly fuses his love for old-school blues and R&B with his natural gift for sharp melodies and well-constructed songs.

[31] In a mixed review, Slant Magazine's Jonathan Keefe wrote that, "with no edge to the songwriting and with such spit-polished, tasteful production, Continuum just doesn't convince as a heady, soulful rock album or as Mayer's creative quantum leap forward".

[32] Jody Rosen, writing for Entertainment Weekly, felt that Mayer is too "classy" and wrote that, although the songs are "shapely" and "the musicianship is elegant and virtuosic", the music's "low-key loveliness dissipates into a sleep-inducing soft-rock haze.

The album's lead single, "Waiting on the World to Change", was nominated and won in the category for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.