[8] On August 7, 2020, Del Rey posted a video on Instagram featuring a snippet of the track "Tulsa Jesus Freak", which would later be included on the album.

[19][20] She further added that, "In 2021, [Chemtrails over the Country Club] opens a sunnier chapter in [Del Rey's] controversial roman-à-clef, and folk legend Joan Baez advocates her acceptance in the pantheon", adding that the album "appears to reveal a more vulnerable Del Rey" who is "lighter on the LA menace" and "more innocently emotional" than in her previous work.

[8][23] The cover shows Del Rey with a number of her female friends (who also appear in the title track's music video).

[40] AllMusic's Fred Thomas stated Del Rey "shakes off the cocoon of her slick pop days completely" in Chemtrails over the Country Club, carrying on the nuanced songwriting of Norman Fucking Rockwell!

[52] Rhian Daly of NME called the album "a sublime statement" that mediates on fame and romance, having the singer "at the peak of her game".

Brown wrote that the album tones down the "lush orchestration" of its predecessor, opting for more acoustic guitar-picking, supported by "scuffs of scuzzy electric guitar and trip-hoppy hotel lobby organ".

[53] Praising the album's writing, The Observer critic Kitty Empire described it as "a record chockful of beauty and thoughtful autobiography that only a more experienced, more assured songwriter could have made".

[54] Branding it "an enchanting listen" and a "bewitching project", Clash's Robin Murray lauded the album's minimal instrumentation and the world-building of its lyrics.

[55] John Amen of PopMatters wrote, "Chemtrails makes use of a more minimal and nuanced palette than earlier albums, Del Rey distancing herself, throughout the set and to varying degrees, from her longstanding persona and familiar stylistics.

[57] Spin critic Bobby Olivier favored the "several gorgeous arrangements" of the album but felt the music is less memorable than the rest of her catalogue.

[58] Alexis Petridis of The Guardian thought the album centers heavily on Del Rey's recurrent themes of "nostalgia, troubled fame and ne'er-do-well lovers", but appreciated the melodies of its tracks.

Club's Tatiana Tenreyro dubbed Chemtrails a sonically and lyrically inferior record to Norman Fucking Rockwell!, commenting that most of its tracks "don't stand out" and "blend together in their delicateness".

[42] Johnny of the Well, reviewing for Sputnikmusic, criticized the album's "clumsy writing, bland instrumentation, vacuous sentimentalism and hamfisted stylisation"; nevertheless, he picked "Tulsa Jesus Freak" as a highlight.