The Pains of Growing is a "coming of age" record, inspired by three years of the singer's life that led up to its release.

Primarily, the album touches themes such as anxiety, heartbreak, and loneliness, as of Cara's experiences inside the music industry.

Cara promoted the album through a series of public appearances and televised live performances, and later, on May 11, 2019, began embarking on 'The Pains of Growing Tour', in Ottawa, Ontario.

According to Cara, The Pains of Growing explores "the nuance and mentality of what it's like to age out of your teen years", as she was 21 during the writing and recording of it.

[9] Cara first performed "Growing Pains" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on June 18, 2018.

[10] The singer played most of The Pains of Growing for a media gathering at a Los Angeles studio in June 2018.

Ben Beaumont-Thomas, writing for The Guardian, criticized "some production that sounds suspiciously like focus-grouping" and also deemed the lyrics a "mixed bag", but commended "7 Days" and "A Little More" as "much more affecting."

"[1] However, he also wrote that, unlike its predecessor, the album "has the tinge of a project made with love and devotion" and singled out "Not Today", "Trust My Lonely", "Nintendo Game", "Wherever I Live", and "Girl Next Door" as highlights.

[1] In the review for AllMusic, Andy Kellman compared the album to Cara's previous release, stating that "The Pains of Growing is consequently more fragmented and less consistent than Know-It-All, but Cara makes the best of it, generally writing in a slightly wiser and sharper manner from the same introverted homebody perspective.