The Kid (Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith album)

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.6/10[3]
Metacritic	82/100[4]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]
The A.V. Club	A[6]
Exclaim!	9/10[7]
The Guardian	[8]
Mixmag	8/10[9]
Pitchfork	8.1/10[10]
Record Collector	[11]
Resident Advisor	4.0/5[12]
Rolling Stone	[1]
Uncut	8/10[13]

The Kid received positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 82, based on 18 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim".[4] The music on the album has been described by the critics as electronic,[14] avant-garde,[1] psychedelia[8] and experimental.[12] Sasha Geffen of Pitchfork described The Kid as the most accessible album of Smith to date and stated that the artist "extracts as much joy as possible from the sadness."[10] While rating the album 4 out of 5, AllMusic's Paul Simpson stated that "The Kid builds on Ears' seamless fusion of synthetic and organic sounds, combining the fluid tones of her preferred instrument, the Buchla Music Easel, with other synthesizers, such as the rare EMS Synthi 100."[5]

Christopher R. Weingarten praised the album declaring that the artist "paints an even lusher world using cosmic swoops, squelches and lots of her highly processed vocals. Sounds don’t align with the rhythms, and Smith’s voice is awash in alien echoes."[1] In a highly positive review, Kelsey J. Waite of The A.V. Club rated the album grade "A", while writing that the album "reaches a career high as the synthesist and composer ponders her existence, tracing the life cycle through four distinct stages" and opined that it is "truly an album to experience beginning to end."[6]

All tracks are written by Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith.

Credits adapted from the liner notes of The Kid.[15]