0304 - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

0304 received generally favorable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 63, based on 9 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic gave to album 4.5 out of 5 stars, stating that "it's the first album of hers that's a sheer pleasure to hear." Erlewine also wrote that "she puts herself out on the line more than she ever has, and she's come up with her best record, with her best set of songs and best music yet." Ron Slomowicz from About.com gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, declaring that "the album is balanced by dance pop that you would expect to hear on a Britney album." Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine was also positive, writing that "the album breaks little musical ground and is, in fact, more pop than electronica, but it also presents one of the most startling—yet oddly fitting—transformations in pop history." Cinquemani also compared the album to Madonna's Ray of Light (1998) and American Life (2003). Barry Walters from Rolling Stone agreed with Cinquemani and wrote that the album "is essentially a wanna-be version of Madonna's American Life." Walters also wrote that "she's found herself an artificial flavor that tastes good." A positive review also came from Uncut, who wrote that "The tunes are stunning, her voice has never sounded better and she makes serious points few others would dare in a pop context." Brian Hiatt from Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B− and declared that the "unexpected dance-pop vibrancy makes it Jewel's best album."

The album also received some mixed reviews, with some critics criticizing the change of style adopted on the album. Alexis Petridis from The Guardian wrote, "Like Robbie Williams's Escapology, 0304 virtually knocks itself out in its attempts to win over the US public", while commenting that she looks "desperate and "uncomfortable" on the album. Darryl Sterdan from Jam! ironically said that the album "isn't going to save her soul—or anyone else's." Caroline Bansal from musicOMH wrote that the album "is an enjoyable 54 minutes of pop, full of catchy, chirpy songs, proving Jewel's ear candy as well as eye candy credentials. The album could be the soundtrack of a summer's day at the beach, or for getting ready for a girly night out."