For The New York Times, Jon Pareles wrote that the singer "deploys her small voice shrewdly" on the album, creating a "jaded growl" on "You". Saeed Saeed of The National saw it as "a vehicle for her most lacerating set of lyrics to date", while for Retropop, "You" contains some of the singer's most pointed lyrics to date.
The critic Jon Pareles from The New York Times characterized the singer as "leveraging her small voice effectively" on the album, creating a "jaded growl" on "You". Saeed Saeed of The National viewed it as an outlet for her most scathing and biting lyrics to date, while Retropop considers "You" to feature some of her most incisive and cutting lyrics.