The album was primarily produced by Chris "Tricky" Stewart, with additional production from Dallas Austin, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Jason Rome, Don Vito, and Olliewood & Scrilla.

AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine rated called the album "a wonderfully fresh recasting of contemporary soul and R&B mores."

He found that the material was "conventional, but it still sounds vibrant, thanks not just to Cantrell's impassioned vocals, but how the songs and productions are wrapped in contemporary mores but delivered as if they were classic.

"[1] Entertainment Weekly's Cheo Tyehimba wrote: "Bluesy but modern, Cantrell belts it out with the immediacy and energy of a hard-bop trumpet player.

"[2] People found that "most of the best songs on So Blu are torchy, gut-wrenching ballads [...] On these tracks the Providence-born chanteuse, whose mother was a jazz singer, really shines."