This album was a way to confront lingering feelings I deal with on the daily, while also, for the first time, become truly aware of those same feelings—insecurity, doubt, depression, anxiety—that I see in some of the people I’m closest to.

Club, Zoe Camp rated this release an A−, calling it "an uptick in Mannequin Pussy’s caustic potential" with the addition of new band members that includes a blend of Crass-style hardcore punk as well as "pop bliss".

[1] Two critics at NPR gave a spotlight to this music: Lars Gotrich of First Listen called the album "wildly diverse and cathartic" that expresses a variety of emotions across several rock music genres[3] and Marissa Lorusso chose the title track for Songs We Love for the combination of "instrumental muscle" and "surprisingly vulnerable poetry".

[5] At PunkNews, Renaldo69 made this a staff pick and stated that this is "a record that wanders more fleshed-out and diverse territory with a bigger, angst-filled story to tell", building upon the band's full-length debut.

[8] At Uproxx, Caitlin White declared this the tenth best album of the month, stating that the "oscillation between hardcore interludes, pop punk riffs, and softly-sung choruses is so cathartic".