"Too Little Too Late" is a pop and R&B breakup song about a girl ending a relationship with a boy who has mistreated her; she refuses to resume or salvage their relationship even though he begs her for a second chance. Performed at a moderately slow tempo of 80 beats per minute, the song lasts a duration of three minutes and forty seconds (3:40). Beginning "Come with me/Stay the night", Bob Waliszewski of "Plugged In" identified "Too Little Too Late" as a song in which the protagonist "rejects a smarmy guy's game-playing advances". A power ballad, the track opens with a quiet verse before progressing into "a loud, sweeping chorus." Kelefa Sanneh, music journalist for "The New York Times", observed that production-wise, the single features "airy synthesizers and synthetic-sounding strings" as opposed to loud guitars. Incorporating teen pop influences, JoJo performs several R&B-style arpeggios throughout the ballad, while her vocal range on the track spans two octaves, from D3 to F#5. JoJo herself explained that the track discusses moving on from one's first heartbreak, calling it a "big song" about expressing disappointment in a first love that is not as angry-sounding as her debut single "Leave (Get Out)". Contributing to "HuffPost", Sam Lansky concurred that the single is "more restrained but no less bitter" than "Leave (Get Out)" while remaining "a guitar-driven sigh of impotent resignation." Musically, JoJo identified "Too Little Too Late" as a pop song into which R&B elements had been incorporated using various harmonies and chord progressions, "but still kept it rock in the hook when it explodes." Robert Copsey of "Digital Spy" cited elements of power pop in the song, similar to "Leave (Get Out)". Instrumentally, the track also incorporates both acoustic and electric guitars.