Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic rated the album four out of five stars, and wrote that "there's a sharp, stylish gleam to the very sound of Forever for Now, a combination of LP's savvy pop sensibility and the cool commercial instincts of Rob Cavallo." He added that Cavallo "accentuates and accessorizes the contours of her [LP's] songs without diluting the eccentricities. He gives her plenty of space to roam, allowing her to soar as high as a skyscraper on 'Tokyo Sunrise' and 'Salvation,' but also knows when to keep things intimate, as on the haunting coda of the title track."
