In "The New York Times", Jon Pareles believed "Graffiti Bridge" would perhaps give Prince a success on both commercial and artistic terms, although he lamented some of the lyrics: "Verbally, he's no deep thinker; when he's not singing about sex, his messages tend to be benevolent and banal." Robert Christgau was less impressed in his consumer guide for "The Village Voice". He applauded the guest artists, particularly The Time, and some of Prince's own half of songs, but said most of them were "overly subtle if not rehashed or just weak: title track, generational anthem, and lead single all reprise familiar themes, and the ballads fall short of the exquisite vocalese that can make his slow ones sing." At the end of 1990, "Graffiti Bridge" was voted the tenth best album of the year in the Pazz & Jop, a nationwide poll of American critics, published by "The Village Voice".