The Organ's reviewer praised the vocal quality of the performers, found Haim's handling of the orchestra "a joy throughout" and declared the whole production "a blessed relief" after the previous year's ENO staging.
The reviewer wrote, "The vocal harmonies on the choruses sound like something out of a church in some distant, dystopian world; the woozy, slightly detuned piano adds to that impression... ...... Hot Press gave the song a favourable review, calling it a "sweeping" track and suggesting it "conjure[s] the same spiritual vibe as Marvin Gaye's 'Abraham, Martin & John'".
"Empire State of Mind" received generally positive reception from contemporary music critics, with most reviewers praising Keys' vocal performance.
Billboard reviewer Jason Lipshutz commended the vocal elements at play in its refrain and the track's "smooth" lyricism.
Fuck the Facts, a Canadian group, practice classic grindcore, characterized by the "metronome-precision drumming and riffing [that] abound, as well as vocal screams and growls" by AllMusic reviewer Greg Prato.
The title has been changed: 'A role for descending auditory cortical projections in songbird vocal learning' Other issues to address: Reviewer #1: 1) The work is carefully done with detailed analysis and the figures appropriately illustrate the data.
A British reviewer attributed the song's success to its "slyly insinuating mixture of iced vocal and emotive story line".
Chronicles of Chaos reviewer Kostas Sarampalis criticized the vocal style of Jens Staschel, stating, "The constant low guttural growling is completely unintelligible, used more like a (very blunt) instrument rather than a means to convey lyrics".
A Newsround reviewer gave the song four and half stars out five stars, praising the group's vocal performance and its sonic palette.
The Guardian music reviewer, Paul Lester, describes the song as "fairly standard R&B pop, his vocal a breezy falsetto as characterless".
