Several music critics commended the production elements of "Break My Heart" as well as its "Need You Tonight" interpolation; some thought it sounded too similar to its influences.

Lipa performed the song on numerous occasions, including on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Big Brother Brasil 20 and Graduate Together.

[6] To give him an idea of her musical style, Lipa played Watt about half of her Future Nostalgia album which he described as "perfect".

[1] Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers was brought at the suggestion of Watt during the end of the recording session for the purpose of overdubbing live drums.

Smith recalled that the song was nearly complete by the time that he arrived at the recording studio and included a programmed drum machine part.

[18] "Break My Heart" has a retro-futuristic sound,[19] with the production consisting of a bouncing-ball bass, handclaps,[20] a funk guitar line,[21] disco violins,[22] and a Europop beat.

[22][23] In the pre-chorus, the song features a funky bassline and sweeping strings, while the music drops out in the middle and abruptly crashes back shortly after for the chorus.

[19][24] As the song eases into its chorus, the instruments are stripped back with a swaggering guitar riff underscoring each lyric, while a techno-adjacent bassline is also included, alongside a staccato bass rhythm.

[...] It's [sweet] and vulnerable, [because] you also see how much you care.It was first revealed that "Break My Heart" had been recorded for Future Nostalgia in January 2020, after the song leaked along with fellow album track "Physical".

[48] The performance featured Lipa sitting in front of a blank wall before the background started changing to city time-lapses and eventually to the Tonight Show set.

[60][61] The "shimmery" and "funky" Moon Boots remix adds percussion, piano stabs and party sounds to the song, giving it "bounce".

The track makes us of a bass lick, cowbells, weird ambiance as well as clinking bottles and menacing laugh sound effects and looped vocals.

[71] Neil Z. Yeung of AllMusic praised the song's mix of inspirations, and Brittany Spanos from Rolling Stone labelled the INXS influence "bewitching".

[72][73] In a separate Rolling Stone review, Althea Legaspi called "Break My Heart" a "dance-driven song" who's "sentiment is soothed by a beat that aims for the dance floor".

[75] Courteney Larocca and Callie Ahlgrim, writing for Business Insider Australia, praised the song's "polished" and "minimalistic" production.

[25] Rob Harvilla of The Ringer highlighted "Break My Heart" as Future Nostalgia's lustiest track, and Bianca Gracie, for Billboard called it a "downright sexy jam".

[78][79] For Under the Radar, Conrad Duncan complimented it for playing to Lipa's strengths as a "fantastically sleek dance record for those who suspect they may be better off single rather than forcing love with people too immature to give or receive it".

[80] In the Gay Times, Daniel Megarry called the song "effortlessly cool" and stated it "culminates in one of the catchiest sure-to-be-hits of the year".

[82] Bailey Slater of Wonderland praised Lipa for tackling the subject of "romance and all its tribulations" in a "more hedonistic way than before", giving listeners the "well-needed hope and self-assurance that love isn’t all doom and gloom after all".

[85] Jim Farber of Vogue opined that "Break My Heart" is a contender for song of the summer, viewing it as "exciting, catchy and totally danceable".

[108][109] The song was awarded a platinum certification for selling 200,000 track-equivalent units in France, from the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP).

[112] The song was awarded a double platinum certification from the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for selling 140,000 track-equivalent units.

[121] In Brazil, the song reached number 43 and was awarded a double diamond certification from Pro-Música Brasil for track-equivalent sales of 320,000 units.

[126][127] It features slide clips that were inspired by the 1990s as well as a colour palette from the early works of Pedro Almodóvar and iridescent landscapes from Japanese hotels.

taking us on her journey from vulnerable to empowered, via her playful cheeky-charming self.The music video begins with Lipa jumping on cars and walking through a traffic-jammed city block, while wearing a red jacket and black pants.

[132] She then begins to dance on the end of the plane before a life raft explodes on her, leading to Lipa waking up in a bed with a confused partner.

[125] She then falls into the bathtub, which turns into a frothy pink martini that one of Lipa's backup dancers is holding while she dances on a bar couch.

[11] Rushbury labelled it a "multi-million-dollar remake" of the video for "Common People" (1995) by Pulp, writing that the clip has "snazzy visuals and couture outfits".

[137] Callie Ahlgrim of Insider described the video as "Lipa serving a variety of retro looks, dancing her cares away, and cycling through suitors in a surreal dreamscape.

[16] Writing for Idolator, Mike Wass called the sets "candy-colored", the choreography "laissez-faire", and wrote "Dua treats us to look after look, sullen glances".