While producing Stadium Cake, the band sought to explore different musical styles to their previous EPs.

Bob Boilen, who had championed the band since their appearance at the 2015 Americana Music Festival, wrote that Stadium Cake "expands on Hally and Emmerichs' talents, to the point where it surprised me how detailed and intricate they are as both players and listeners.

"[5] Bryan Hood, writing for The Village Voice, described it as an "engaging album of folk-pop, one that'll be good for fans of the genre to put on repeat this summer.

called the album "accomplished enough to leave a mark of its own on future folk and indie pop artists.

"[7] Doug Wallen for Rolling Stone Australia wrote that the album's best moments "retain the Melbourne duo’s folky intimacy, even as they stretch their sound every which way", and in particular praised the track "Doctor Doctor", which "nails Taylor Swift's pop smarts and sloganeering alike.