The album was promoted with a club tour, an appearance on Late Show with David Letterman, and music videos for tracks "The Art of Losing", "The Breakup Song" and "Beautiful Disaster".

[6] Overdubs were made with assistance from Dave Alhert and Adam Fuller at Media Vortex in Burbank, California, and it was also provided by Errin Familia at Sage and Sound in Hollywood.

[8][12][13] The lyrics, which included a reference to "Crimson and Clover" (1968) by Tommy James and the Shondells,[5] discuss relationship issues with the narrator placing more focus on retrieving his record collection rather than his ex-girlfriend.

[21][22] The former was promoted with a club tour throughout February 2003,[2] with support from Count the Stars and Allister,[5] and an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman the following month.

Online opened their review by calling the band consistent, adding the listener enters "familiar territory" with a "a batch of arena-ready, metal-friendly [...] that often sounds like Sum 41 doing its best Bay City Rollers impression".

[14] IGN writer Jesse Lord said lyricism is "not [American Hi-Fi's] strong point", that the "words resonate with an overwhelming sense of deja vu ... full of cliché and pop culture references".

[9] Christian Hoard of Spin said "only a snob could hate these 11 songs, which wear their bright, adrenalized grooves, lucid melodies, and arena-ready choruses ... proudly and without a shred of irony".

Launch's Ken Micallef said the band made their own brand of "nostalgic power pop that will leave your your vocal cords a mess and your shirt full of someone's else's sweat".

[10] The staff of Rock Hard said The Art of Losing "evoke[s] little emotions", writing: "They are too professional and good to be annoying [...] too calculated and unoriginal to sincerely like".

[32] Entertainment Weekly's Craig Seymour wrote American Hi-Fi "return[ed] with a peppy, though derivative, kick of suburban brat rock".

[31] Cleveland Scene writer Mikael Wood said the album is "full of agreeable sass", though the inclusion of Jones conveys a "total lack of originality".

[30] AllMusic reviewer Johnny Loftus said the record is filled mainly with a "jumble of F-words, cheeky pop culture references, name-drops ... and more buzzing 21st century new alternative rock helped out considerably by production chicanery".

[15] Melodic writer Kaj Roth called it an "OK album" and noted American Hi-Fi as having lost "their own personal style", sounding "just like 36 other bands".