Critical Reception
Music critics were divided on "Rehab". Rodney Dugue of The Village Voice called it one of the standout songs on Good Girl Gone Bad, and Sarah Rodman of The Boston Globe said it was essential to the album. Huff of PopMatters called it a "little gem" and compared it to Babyface's collaboration with Madonna on her 1994 single "Take a Bow". Billboard magazine called the song a highlight of the album, with "slinky-assisted Timberlake background vocals, tension-filled production, and contrasting strings and guitars." Vibe's Shanel Odum, while reviewing Good Girl Gone Bad, noted that the album predominantly is consisted of up-tempo songs, while the ballads are its weak part, eventually being "saved" by "Rehab". Spence D. of IGN stated that Timberlake and Rihanna work well together, thanks to their similar vocal ranges. He wrote that the song "reverts to Rihanna's old styled R&B swoon, the groove being built around tambourine shakes, acoustic guitar swirls, and a subtle backbeat." Doug Rule of Metro Weekly wrote that "Rehab" "is its own distinctive song—and a fetching one at that—but the resemblance to one of Timberlake's best is unmistakable." Sylvia Patterson from The Guardian described the song as a "mournful tale of lost love feeling like a catastrophic rehab meltdown".
On the negative side, Tom Breinan of Pitchfork Media wrote that Rihanna "comes closer than usual to depicting something resembling human emotion, but she still comes off sounding like a robot programmed to impersonate Alanis Morissette." Neil Drumming of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Rehab is a joyless overdose of mid-tempo melodrama". Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine said that "Rehab" proves that Timberlake "is better off penning lyrics about sexy backs or dicks in boxes"—a reference to Timberlake's 2006 singles "SexyBack" and "Dick in a Box".
Read more about this topic: Rehab (Rihanna Song)
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