Sandé's intent is to inspire "hope and confidence" with the album, particularly for those "who have been marginalised, forgotten or kicked down by this invisible oppression that's always there."
Lucy Mapstone from Scottish daily newspaperThe National wrote that "Sande’s first two albums hit number one and number two in the charts respectively, so she has a lotto live up to. But, honestly, this may be her best work yet Having gone through a period of difficulty in her life, Sandé has come out the other side and, across this new collection, she rises like the proverbial phoenix with tunes that are a new level of epic, all melodic and uplifting and hymn-like with the odd Motown or gospel influence thrown in where appropriate." AllMusic editor Andy Kellman rated Real Life three and a half stars our of five. He felt that the album "aims to alleviate, uplift, and motivate Like Sandé's two previous studio albums, it's based in mature pop, but its integration of other genres and styles — a little reggae, some blues, disco, and more gospel than ever — is done with more finesse. The seamlessness, combined with full-hearted vocal performances, counteracts all the platitudes and flying-bird-as-freedom metaphors." Classic Pops Wyndham Wallace felt that "Sandé doesn’t appear interested in breaking new ground when she can preserve and revere old territory: Real Life immerses her in gospel soul traditions, with massed voices integral to its style, so if you’re comfortable with formulas, you won’t begrudge her being formulaic." In his review for Evening Standard Jochan Embley found that "Real Life is far from adventurous in terms of its songwriting — too often, the structures seem slightly by-the-numbers. The tense, ascending strings towards the end of "Honest" are the closest we get to experimentation and are compelling enough to make you wish Sandé had taken similar risks elsewhere. That said, by clinging on to her soul-inflected roots, Sandé manages to avoid any modern pop tropes, which at least gives the album a disarming authenticity."
Commercial performance
In the UK, the album debuted at number 6 with sales of 7,650 combined units.
