She stated down the line from a promo stop in Minneapolis that she doesn't write on tour, "so it was essential that I took time out from her previous album Drastic Fantastic".

At a media showcase in London, Tunstall offered an unusual description of the songs from her forthcoming third album: "Like Eddie Cochran working with Leftfield".

[18] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic gave it 4.5 out of five, saying it is "built upon Tunstall's strongest set of songs yet" and calling it "an excellent album that satisfies as pure sound and as songwriting sustenance".

[7] Charlotte Richardson Andrews of The Guardian called it an "inventive follow-up to 2007's Drastic Fantastic, which merges her raspy folk with free-spirited campfire rhythms" and found it "introspective in places, but mostly [...] fierce, claws-out fun".

[10] Victoria Dillingham of musicOMH wrote that "despite her self-confessed lack of confidence when it comes to crossing musical boundaries, Tunstall proves that in the guise of her Tiger Suit she can achieve anything she puts her mind to.

"[12] Greg Kot from Entertainment Weekly thought that "with commercial radio all about that urban groove thing these days, it's little wonder that the Scottish singer KT Tunstall decorates her Lilith Fair-style songwriting chops with electro-pop beats" and stated that she "keeps enough off-kilter grit in her voice to make the claim in "(Still a) Weirdo" stick".

[15] Matthew Horton of BBC Music said that Tunstall "has settled into a familiar groove" and called the album "all no end of fun, without pushing any envelopes".

Music noticed that "there's the energy of electronic input underpinning some songs, but the moments that leave marks include the four-to-the-floor squall of "Push That Knot Away" [...], staccato simplicity of "(Still a) Weirdo" and the xylophone and acoustic guitar marching drum twinkle-fest "Fade Like a Shadow"" and stated that the album sounds like "KT Tunstall armed with a better producer".

[16] Jeff Tamarkin from The Phoenix found it "tougher, louder, and more electronically endowed than [...] its poppy predecessor" and noticed the "denser, rowdier sonics that permeate much of the record", but felt that "in her quest for catchy buzz lines, [Tunstall] sacrificed clarity and craft".

[13] J. Edward Keyes of Rolling Stone said that Tunstall "leavens sleek pop songs with her warm-whiskey rasp" and stated that "one of Tiger Suit's cleverest tricks" is that "it can so nimbly navigate such contradictions", awarding it three out of five stars.