Goddess received generally positive reviews from music critics. At
Metacritic, which assigns a
normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an
average score of 74, based on 22 reviews. Miles Raymer of
Entertainment Weekly commended Banks for her "sonic ambition and willingness to risk alienating a pop audience with
Goddess gloomy, tweaky beats". Tshepo Mokoena of
The Guardian noted that Banks "lays her emotions bare, at times almost embarrassingly so, sounding raw and vengeful when she belts—and a bit like
Fiona Apple in the chirr of her upper vocal register", concluding that although the songs "Someone New" and "Under the Table" "sink into nondescript ballad territory",
Goddess is otherwise an "accomplished debut". Felicity Martin of
Clash expressed that Banks' "
Aaliyah-like vocals pour from
Goddess, while a gang of bleeding-edge underground producers ... concoct soulful beats to cushion them", adding that "her confessional appeal is not lost ... as ballads such as 'Under The Table' hark back to her humble piano-and-voice origins." El Hunt of
DIY called the album a "bewitching, and surprisingly diverse debut" and stated that "it looks like Jillian Banks more than lives up to the hype."
Will Hermes of
Rolling Stone found that the album "confirms a beguiling, diaristic voice that echoes
avant-pop forebears (Aaliyah, Fiona Apple,
Kate Bush) and a taste for gloomy, synth-centric productions."
Slant Magazines Sal Cinquemani viewed Banks' "attempts at balladry" as "generally forgettable", but opined that she "excels ... at fusing her pop sensibility with imposing synth pads and hip-hop beats".
The Observers
Kitty Empire described the album as "slow-burning, fidgety, attractively troubled" and wrote that it "offer[s] up a more conventional take on [minimal R&B] than Banks's British counterpart,
FKA Twigs." Despite praising songs such as "Brain" and "Beggin for Thread", Rhian Daly of
NME felt that the album is "good, but not up to the standard its title suggests." In a mixed review, Andrew Ryce of
Pitchfork commented that "there are moments where [Banks] sounds unpretentious and charming", while dismissing her aesthetic as "all trendy misery assisted by equally fashionable producers, without any substance to hold it all up." He continued, "Banks could certainly go places—but
Goddess doesn't, and instead seems content to wallow in the same depressive rut for an exhausting 59 minutes."
Accolades Slant Magazine placed
Goddess at number eight on its list of "The 25 Best Albums of 2014", with Annie Galvin commenting, "The alt-pop landscape in 2014 was crowded with sultry female singers backed by über-hip electronic beatscapes, yet Jillian Banks managed to rise above the fray with her debut."
Rolling Stone named it the 17th best R&B album of 2014, and the magazine's Cady Drell wrote, "More than just an Internet sensation with on-the-nose Nineties R&B throwback hooks, L.A. native Jillian Banks can go from gloomy trance cuts one minute to lyrically explicit soul jams the next—all with an impressively modern gothic touch." It was also listed as the 24th best album of the year by
The Guardian.
PopMatters ranked the album number 28 on its year-end list and concluded, "[Banks] is no
Beyoncé, but her failures are her strength and our gain, and her scars give Goddess a beauty and a feminist wisdom that the platinum features of
Beyoncé will never have." Jessica Goodman and Ryan Kristobak of
HuffPost included the album on their list of "The 23 Best Albums of 2014", stating, "While exhilarating in bits, as a full listen, [the album is] a little hard to stomach. However, in the comedown, 'Brain' demonstrates what happens when Banks is at her spiciest, and 'You Should Know Where I'm Coming From' removes the ooze for a clear look at just how capable her voice is on its own, giving us hope for a more explorative follow-up." ==Commercial performance==