The album received mixed reviews from critics who commended the band's attempt at maturity with diverse musicianship and catchability but found it inconsistent.

Forever the Sickest Kids debuted at number 33 on the Billboard 200 and spawned three singles: "Keep On Bringing Me Down", "I Guess You Can Say Things Are Getting Pretty Serious" and "Summer Song".

[2] When speaking about the album, vocalist Jonathan Cook stated, "This is like, a year and a half in the making with some different planning.

[5] The group began working on the album with producers David Bendeth and John Bender in 2010 in New Jersey, New York, Irving and Fort Worth.

[2] They worked with other producers including Mark Jackson, Ian Scott, Aaron Accetta, Shep Goodman and Geoff Rockwell.

"[8] "I Guess You Can Say Things Are Getting Pretty Serious" has been described as a "high-voltage pop-tune", driven by Cook's addictive vocals and distorted guitars by Caleb Turman and Marc Stewart.

On their tour during December, the band began to perform the songs "I Guess You Can Say Things Are Getting Pretty Serious" and "Life of the Party.

While most music critics commended the diversity and catchiness of the album and at the more mature attempts made by the band, some still felt it wasn't consistent and contained clichéd lyrics and sound.

[7][9][26] Many reviewers praised Cook's vocals, calling them "assured and punchy" and were pleased with the absence of Auto-Tune, which was occasionally used in the band's previous releases.

[9][26] Tim Sendra of AllMusic wrote, "His impassioned yelping on the rockers and his twee crooning on the ballads are one of the album's highlights.

"[26] Ryan Gardner of AbsolutePunk wrote that the song was "littered with auto-tune, electronic drums, and synth over dosage.

"[29] On a positive note, reviews claimed "Keep On Bringing Me Down", "I Guess You Can Say Things Are Getting Pretty Serious", and "What Happened to Emotion?

Gardner said of "Keep On Bringing Me Down" and "I Guess You Can Say Things Are Getting Pretty Serious" that they "begin the record on a high note, leaving the listener bouncing around to poppy cravings.

"[9] Freedman stated on the overall album that "these songs, as with the disc as a whole, show substantial musical growth on the band's part; there's an intricacy at play that never before existed in this outfit's new material, which proves more poppy than punky.