Though Dedicated Side B was subsequently released with no prior announcement on May 21, 2020, Jepsen teased the album while speaking to Mike Wass from Idolator, stating: "I feel like I should stop pretending.

In a separate question about the retro synths being used heavily in some of Jepsen's projects, she answered: "Originally with [Dedicated], I was looking to go into '70s disco, and I think we thought that was "Julien", but the rest of it kind of just led me right back to what I think is my idea of one of the greatest eras of pop music, which is the '80s.

[21] In an article for Exclaim, Angela Morrison called Dedicated Side B a "remarkable" album, noting that "Jepsen [has] found a formula that works well for her — sparkling synth-pop inflected by giddy romantic anticipation".

Morrison went into further detail with some of the tracks on the album, noting that "the slinky, sexy 'Fake Mona Lisa' and the bubbly, shimmering 'Now I Don't Hate California After All' sound like nothing she has ever done before", and that "'Felt This Way' takes a melancholic approach", while its counterpart, "Stay Away", "is more cheeky and upbeat".

In addition, Morrison wrote that the album was "brimming with starry-eyed euphoria, glittery synth-pop confections and her characteristically odd lyrical syntax", concluding that "In essence, it has everything that makes Jepsen's music lovable and bewitching".

[13] Writing for NPR, Jon Lewis stated that "the album feels like much more than a compilation of outtakes from her last release", expanding that the project "could have easily functioned as a stand-alone record, with a fresh batch of exuberant, lovestruck choruses to get lodged in your head all summer".

The writer also described the tracks as "80s-washed, electronic summer pop songs that Jepsen can now craft in her sleep", and called the album "more upbeat, energetic, and memorable than its counterpart, featuring hook-laden verses and explosive choruses that only came through intermittently on [Dedicated]".

Ahlgrim commented on how Jepsen "rarely deviates from her sparkling, tingly, edge-free formula", writing that she "doesn't need to", as she "simply continues to stack impeccable, immediately likable bops on top of each other, like an everlasting Jenga tower — no biggie".

Camp concluded that the songs on the album represented the "wealth of treasures she had to choose from, [and] her ability to craft a cohesive narrative", and noted that the lyrics of "the meditative 'Comeback', [demonstrate] the tangled multi-dimensionality of both her psyche and the act of sex itself".