Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Chicago Tribune
Entertainment Weekly	(A-)
The New York Times	(favorable)
Pitchfork Media	(8.0/10)
PopMatters	(8/10)
Rolling Stone
Slant Magazine
URB
The Washington Post	(favorable)

I Learned the Hard Way is the fourth studio album by American soul and funk band Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, released April 6, 2010 on Daptone Records. Production for the album took place at the label's House of Soul Studios during 2009 to 2010 and was handled by Daptone co-founder Gabriel Roth, credited for the album as "Bosco Mann". The album debuted at number 15 on the US Billboard 200, selling 23,000 copies in its first week. Upon its release, I Learned the Hard Way received generally positive reviews from most music critics.

The album was released by Daptone Records on CD, vinyl, MP3, and FLAC formats. The vinyl LP release includes a code for a free MP3 download of the whole album from the Daptone Records website. This digital version includes an exclusive bonus track, "When I Come Home." This song was later available as a 7" single. Three of the major digital music stores — the iTunes Store, Amazon MP3, and eMusic — each had their own exclusive bonus track.

I Learned the Hard Way received positive reviews from most music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 81, based on 30 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim". Critics praised Jones' maturing voice and The Dap-Kings soulful musicianship on the album.Allmusic writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave it 4 out of 5 stars and praised the band's incorporation of regional soul music styles, writing that it delivers "songs that swagger and stir the soul, fitting within tradition without being beholden to it".Entertainment Weekly's Whitney Pastorek complimented Jones's singing on the album.The Boston Globe's Siddhartha Mitter stated "The band is superb, and Jones ... sings of hard times, infidelity, and other life lessons with total authority". Richard Trapunski of NOW gave the album a 4/5 rating and commended its musical style, stating "Shifting between Philly soul and James Brown funk, the heavyweight horn section provides a suitable backdrop".Boston Phoenix writer Jeff Tamarkin gave it 4 out of 4 stars and praised their "commitment to retro soul", but wrote "they never leave the impression that they’re trying to recapture past glory. This music just feels right on them, and in its own way contemporary".The A.V. Club's Noel Murray complimented its incorporation of "Motown sound" influences, writing that Jones and the Dap-Kings apply "grandeur and polish to what used to be called 'race music'".The Washington Post's Sarah Godfrey lauded the band's "vintage" sound and wrote that it "is so entrenched in retro soul that it creates, rather than emulates, '60s sounds".Delusions of Adequacy writer Bryan Sanchez called the album "a beautiful representation of what real, honest and true soul music really is".

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