Piece of Me - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

Alex Fletcher of Digital Spy gave "Piece of Me" four stars, calling it "a two fingered-salute to the media hounds and an electro-thudding cry of defiance, warning us that this popstrel is not for turning. poops from a great height on anything Lily Allen has ever penned and reveals that it's been Spears who's been laughing hardest during her year of zany media antics". Peter Robinson of The Observer and Margeaux Watson of Entertainment Weekly named "Piece of Me" one of the standout tracks of the album. Dennis Lim of Blender called it one the best tracks of Blackout along with "Gimme More". Bill Lamb of About.com said " may indeed have serious serious personal problems, but this is quite simply a woman fighting back against what she perceives as injustice with fierce anger bubbling beneath the service of an extraordinarily sexy electro instrumental track. Rarely has a pop star so effectively answered critics. The string of phenomenal singles from '...Baby One More Time' to the most recent 'Gimme More' continue to argue for serious consideration of Ms. Spears as one of the top mainstream pop artists of the past decade. Even under distress she delivers in the studio, and that is the mark of a professional". Laura Herbert of BBC News said that the song is "without doubt the best track on the whole album. It's a masterpiece." Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times said " evoke the horror, the exhilaration and (finally) the boredom of overexamined life. It’s brilliant".

Tom Ewing of Pitchfork Media suggested that "the hypertreatment of the voice, the way it edges into the music, suggests that the price of fame is identity erasure. We understand her through a filter, and that's how we have to hear her too. The multiple backing vox fragment identity further, turn the song more universal". Dave De Sylvia of Sputnikmusic also picked it as one of the album's highlights. Melissa Maerz of Rolling Stone named it the best track of the album along with "Freakshow", deeming it as a "tabloid-bashing banger". Jim Abbott of the Orlando Sentinel said that "Musically, songs such as 'Piece of Me,' 'Radar' and 'Break the Ice' are one-dimensional, robotic exercises." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic commented that "Bloodshy & Avant try desperately to craft a defiant anthem for this tabloid fixture, as she couldn't be bothered to write one on her own". Chris Wasser from the Irish Independent said the song "drowns slowly under cloggy production and a lyrical theme that for all of its close connection with the trials and tribulations Spears has had to deal with, weren't even penned by the singer who could have very easily recorded her fairly unchallenging input on Blackout in less than a week." The song was later included in Rolling Stone's 100 Best Songs of 2007 at number fifteen.