The album received favorable reviews from
music critics.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine from
AllMusic gave the album three and a half stars out of five and pointed out that it is difficult to define the singer's career, because she changes her style constantly, sometimes sounding retro, sometimes modern, or mixing the two, like in
Bring Ya to the Brink. Chuck Taylor from
Billboard gave a favorable review to the record and noted that while it exploits the artificiality of the dancefloor, its lyrics carry a strong message that won't always be noticed by the public. Barry Walters from
Blender gave the album three and a half stars out of five and said that with the social messages of the songs, Lauper has never sounded more relevant since her first album ''
She's So Unusual. Simon Vozick-Levinson from Entertainment Weekly'' magazine gave the album a B rating and praised the singer's finally returning to the dance floor world.
The New York Times gave a mixed review, describing the record as "a stubbornly fluorescent record, long on thudding downbeats and short on nuance or grace". Evan Davies from
Toronto's
NOW newspaper gave the record three (NNN) out of five and wrote that while there are clear references to the work of artists like
Daft Punk and
Kylie Minogue, "Lauper’s personality, always her greatest asset, manages to come through on the bulk of
Brink" and that although there are a few songs that just fill the record, it "is fun and catchy". Liz Hoggard of
The Observer praised the album and said "this is the album
Madonna should have made instead of
Hard Candy". Caryn Ganz from
Rolling Stone magazine gave it three stars out of five and wrote that the album never comes close to "a full serotonin burst" like Madonna's 2005 album
Confessions on a Dance Floor, but "it brings Lauper's credit to once again innovate her repertoire."
Slant Magazine gave the album three and a half stars out of five and pointed out that although the album isn't mainstream enough to bring a triumphant comeback in Lauper's career, it recaptures the singer's artistic relevance and stands out as a superior alternative to
Hard Candy, by Madonna. ==Commercial performance==