On her review of "Evita", Janet Maslin from "The New York Times" commented that "Mr. Lloyd Webber and Mr. Rice have contributed a lilting new song, 'You Must Love Me', that's as suitable for weddings as it is for running South American countries". "Entertainment Weekly"s David Browne gave the song a rating of B and opined that "['You Must Love Me'] is no 'Live to Tell' or 'Take a Bow'. But this simple, elegantly arranged showpiece from "Evita" is clearly intended to promote both the film and her new adult, matriarchal image". Greg Kot from the "Chicago Tribune", called it "among the composers' finest works--a rare example of understatement with its sparse instrumentation, brevity and nuanced lyricism". Peter Travers from "Rolling Stone" called it "sympathy-begging". The song won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song at the 54th ceremony, which took place on January 19, 1997. Two months later, it was awarded the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 69th Academy Awards. While ranking Madonna's singles, in honor of her 60th birthday, "The Guardian"s Jude Rogers placed "You Must Love Me" at number 50, calling it the singer's best performance from the film and pointing out the "emotional quaking desperation" in her voice. Negative criticism came from the "San Francisco Chronicle"s Barbara Shulgasser, who wrote that "['You Must Love Me'] didn't help a bit. Rice writes lazy, dumb lyrics that make no effort to correspond to the rhythms of the music". Also negative was "Slant Magazine"s Eric Henderson, who wrote that it "just barely misses taking the dishonor of being ranked the worst of the singles released from the soundtrack, it certainly chides that its entire mad existence was to push Andrew Lloyd Webber to an EGOT".