Composition
According to the sheet music published by Alfred Music Publishing on the website Musicnotes.com, "Going Under" is an rock, alternative metal, gothic rock, hard rock and chamber pop song set in common time and performed in slow and free tempo of 84 beats per minute. It is written in the key of D major and Lee's vocal range for the song runs from the musical note of E3 to D♯5. Containing some nu-metal influences, the song features several guitars and drum machine as Lee sings the lines "fifty thousand tears I’ve cried". A writer for The Boston Globe said that the song is a "a mix of Lee's ethereal soprano, piano interludes, and layers of serrated guitar crunch that conjure visions of Sarah McLachlan fronting Godsmack."
Mikel Toombs of Seattle Post-Intelligencer found a Wagnerian arrangement and metal and classic rock influences in the song. Joe D'Angelo from MTV News wrote that the "toothy riffs" of songs like "Going Under" and "Bring Me to Life" might suggest that "Nobody's Home" (2005) from Avril Lavigne's second studio album Under My Skin will sound like "an Evanescence song with Avril, not Amy Lee, on vocals." It was also described as a "goth-meets pop" song by Michael D. Clark of The Houston Chronicle. Tim Sendra of Allmusic said that the "tinkling pianos and hip-hop-inspired backing vocals, making the song perfect for those who find the male histrionics of Limp Bizkit and their ilk too oppressive." Vik Bansal of MusicOMH compared the song with Evanescence's previous single, "Bring Me to Life" saying that it contained "Amy Lee's temptress vocals, pseudo-electronic beats à la Linkin Park, understated but menacing metallic riffs in the background, and a ripping, radio-friendly rock chorus."
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