Critical Reception
"If You're Not the One" received mixed reviews from contemporary music critics. On the positive side, Peter Robinson, in the Gotta Get thru This album review for the New Music Express (NME), wrote "If You're Not the One every chart-mauling uber-ballad you've ever heard". Nedd Raggett of Allmusic commented in his album review "When it comes to ballads, they work best in sudden moments - the soaring end to If You're Not the One". About.com ranked the song at number 27 on its list of the 'Top 100 Pop Songs of 2002', two places behind the album title track. The song was again ranked at number 27 on the 2003 list, due to it being released in the United States during that year. Music Week felt that the song showed Bedingfield's "sensitive side", and that the song "showcases his vocal range to stunning effect." The magazine even considered it "beautifully crafted." However the track also received some negative feedback. PopMatters' Nikki Tranter wrote "surely you would think with his obviously overwhelming ability to compose utter claptrap cleverly disguised as serious prophesizing, his lyrics might contain something a little more expressive than 'If you're not the one / Why does my heart feel glad today / If you're not the one / Then why does my hand fit yours this way.' " Michael Hubbard was even less positive stating "If You're Not The One is as vomit-inducing as anything the man in the plastic mask has ever wretched (sic) forth at the world" in his review for musicOMH. The song has been covered by Cliff Richard for his album Love… The Album.
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