"Guilty Pleasure" received mixed reviews from music critics, who appreciated her attempt to break free from her Disney image and complimented the album's energy and catchiness, while others dismissed the production and songwriting as generic and unoriginal.

[8]Warner Bros. said the first component of the label's album roll out was revealing Tisdale's new look with a relaunch of her web site in March and the cover of Cosmopolitan's April issue.

[13] The first single, "It's Alright, It's OK", Tisdale said, "is a strong, empowering song that kind of helps you move on" and continued to say: I have definitely on and with someone you really like, if they are cheating on you, you don't want to believe it.

[28] The most positive of reviews came from Allmusic's Stephen Erlewine, who gave the album three and a half stars out of five, stating that when Tisdale "sticks to the surface, she makes sure that Guilty Pleasure lives up to its title".

[20] Digital Spy's Nick Levine praised Guilty Pleasure for Tisdale's new sound, comparing her to the likes of Kelly Clarkson and Ashlee Simpson.

Levine praised tracks such as "It's Alright, It's OK", "Erase and Rewind" and "Hot Mess", however was not impressed with "Crank It Up", stating it "shamelessly rips off Britney's robopop sound, right down to the Spears-aping vocals"; he went on to give the album three out of five stars.

[22] The most negative of reviews came from Margaret Wappler of the Los Angeles Times who only gave the album one and a half out of four stars.

Wappler said the album has "few glimmers of hope" and went on to criticize the producers as "not seem[ing] to have gifted Tisdale with their best work".

Tisdale embarked on a press European promo tour in March 2009, where she visited the United Kingdom, France,[29] Germany,[30] and Italy.

In early June 2009, she started her second promotional tour for Europe, visiting Germany, Italy and Spain, here performed on several television shows, such as German Wetten, dass..?

[39][40] Tisdale along with her band performed several free concerts across the United States, including the opening for the first Microsoft Store on Scottsdale, Arizona, on October 22, 2009.

[41][42] "It's Alright, It's OK" was released as the album's lead single on April 13, 2009 in Canada, and in the United States on the next day, in both radio airplay and digital download formats.