Love After War

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[7]
Entertainment Weekly	(B+)[8]
The New York Times	(mixed)[1]
Rolling Stone	[9]
Slant Magazine	[10]
USA Today	[11]

Allmusic editor Andy Kellman commented that "Thicke has settled into a suave, and even more swashbuckling, sound" and wrote of its second half of seductive ballads, "They don’t offer much in the way of development from Thicke’s recent past [...] but they should get the job done."[7] Slant Magazine's Matthew Cole "Thicke spends most of Love After War singing in full voice, with mixed results", adding that "since Love After War stretches its seduction routine out for 17 tracks, the weight of its throwaway songs starts to add up."[10] Nate Chinen of The New York Times wrote that Thicke "ask[s] you to admire his tasteful slickness without delving much deeper than the surface."[1] Rolling Stone writer Jody Rosen stated, "Thicke spends a lot of time pondering romantic turmoil, but he's at his best when he reverts to classic loverman form: squeezing gentle bossa nova chords on his acoustic guitar, and letting his feathery upper register do the dirty work."[9]

Kyle Anderson of Entertainment Weekly complimented Thicke's "creamy voice" and stated, "At 17 tracks, his loverman act grows a little exhausting, but perhaps he's just giving wannabe lotharios a seduction time frame to aspire to."[8] Elysa Gardner of USA Today wrote that the album "can find him self-consciously smooth at times, suggesting too much artful foreplay. Still, this is a consistent showcase for his dextrous singing, which evokes pop/R&B icons from Marvin Gaye to Michael McDonald," complimenting "his ability to serve old-school textures with a fresh and not-too-shiny finish."[11]

The album debuted at number 22 on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 41,000 copies in the United States.[12]