"About a Girl" has frequently been cited as early evidence of Cobain's talent as a pop songwriter. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of "Allmusic" wrote that the song "illustrated signs of considerable songcraft." Evan Rytlewskia of "Pitchfork" called it "a glimpse at the melodic impulses that would make [Cobain one of the defining rock musicians of the ’90s." According to Will Bryant of "Pitchfork", it was "curious, based on the clean guitars and tinny cymbals that dominate ["About a Girl"], how Nirvana ever came to be identified with grunge, the genuinely dirty and moody sound more readily associated with contemporaries Mudhoney, Soundgarden and Tad than the punk-metal hybrid Nirvana favored." The "NME" described it as "Kurt's first true masterpiece," which "showed Nirvana's soft underbelly could be just as arresting as their ear-splitting thrashes."