It was released on 21 April 2011, through JSM Music, during his wife Alex McCord's tenure on the American reality television series The Real Housewives of New York City.

"I Am Real" received mostly unfavourable reviews from music critics, who dismissed van Kempen as a television personality who tried launching a singing career.

The song was unsuccessful, selling just 1,000 copies in the United States, as of September 2011. van Kempen has since performed "I Am Real" on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen and at Manhattan's annual "Fashion Night Out" event in 2011.

[2] van Kempen explained that he would not have recorded the song if it were not for The Real Housewives of New York City, for which McCord was a cast member, and his resulting notoriety.

[13] Rich Juzwiak from TV Guide Magazine labelled it as a "thumping wanabe [sic] club anthem," calling it the opposite of "Tardy for the Party" (2009), by The Real Housewives of Atlanta cast member Kim Zolciak.

[16][17] It also discusses what he experienced during the filming of The Real Housewives of New York City, such as his friendships and indifferences with the other cast members: "When wives attack behind my back / They trash me on their Twitter.

[4] "I Am Real" also features a "now infamous one-liner" that McCord originally said on the series ("Thug in a cocktail dress"), in reference to fellow housewife Luann de Lesseps.

Entertainment critic called it "so bad", preferring de Lesseps' "Money Can't Buy You Class" (2010) and equating their listening of the song to eating "really disgusting food".

"[20] Eliot Glazer from MTV News blamed "Money Can't Buy You Class" for allowing van Kempen to believe "that he, too, could – and should – record a song".

Online described "I Am Real" as "an even more ridiculous song"; they also labelled van Kempen as a television personality who "thinks he has what it takes to be a pop star".