"Slant" magazine described the leaked version of "Not About Love" as "defiant, a poetic, regret-filled account of the morning after secrets were spilled". The "Akron Beacon Journal" speculated the song was "the big turnoff for the bean counters Sony ... has a rolling circular piano line and no beat aside from the sawing of the lush, swelling string arrangement", and a review in Okayplayer called it "brilliant. It sounds like a portion of a ballet movement with a very dramatic ending".