[9] The album's cover was premiered on September 21, 2010 and features Sullivan dressed in all black, leaning against a vintage model Chevrolet Impala, a reference to her hit single "Bust Your Windows".

"[12] In Spin magazine, Maura Johnston found Sullivan "both feisty and classy,"[20] while Michael Cragg of The Guardian said her singing is marked by experience and accommodates each song.

[14] Jon Pareles, writing in The New York Times, felt that Sullivan sounds "narrow and jagged" on the album, "with more grain and more tears as she applies gospel dynamics to her venting.

"[24] Alex Macpherson of The Quietus commended Sullivan for "letting [her] ideas run riot while staying true to genre values" on the "most creative R&B album of the year.

"[25] In his review for MSN Music, Robert Christgau felt that the songwriting is "a big extra difference maker, with enough pop moves to lighten the overall mood" amid "the soulful melodrama."

He believed Sullivan role-plays "with unflinching intelligence" on each song and, although the lyrics could be based on personal history, "it's simpler just to wish every pro was such an astute student of the female condition.

Jon Dolan of Rolling Stone expressed ambivalence about Sullivan's decision to play "a little nicer, adhering to the Mary J. Blige school of gritty, nuanced hip-hop soul.