Fallin' - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

NME called it a "assive, massive massive hit" adding "Piano tinkles, drum machine coughs like an athsmatic whippet and Alicia strokes your spine with ice cubes and spatters your spotty back with hot candle wax". The song was described as "gospel fervor of lovesick righteousness" by Beth Johnson of Entertainment Weekly. Robert Hilburn of The Los Angeles Times described the song as having "the neo-soul vitality of Macy Gray and Jill Scott." Sam Faulkner of NME said that the song had "deeper moments creep up and grab you exemplified." Mark Anthony Neal of PopMatters said that the song "combines Key's natural blues register with a subtle, and brilliantly so, sample of James Brown's 'It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World'." Barry Walters of Rolling Stone said "there's no denying the serious early Aretha vibe permeating the hit." Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine said that "the gospel-tinged starts out simply with measured piano and basic drum programming, eventually building to a crescendo of operatic proportions." Steve Jones of USA Today described the song as "a bluesy ode to self-destructive love" and further commented that the song "is only a teaser for what she has to offer." Simon Price of The Independent called the song Keys' breakthrough song and noted how the melody of the song is similar to Queen's "We Are the Champions". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic pointed out the lack of depth in the song, saying it "doesn't have much body to it", which he felt was "a testament to Keys' skills as a musician." In the The Village Voice's 2001 Pazz & Jop critics' poll, the song appeared at number four on the list.