[7][10] Entertainment Weekly writer Leah Greenblatt stated that Perry's lyrical talent is not her strength, adding: "neither, in fact, is rhyming 'forte' with 'foreplay,' as she does painfully on the druggie-boyfriend takedown 'Circle the Drain'.

"[11] Billboard journalist Monica Herrera found the song to have been inspired by Pat Benatar's material, while Perry herself said: "It's kind of like my 'You Oughta Know' Alanis Morissette moment.

"[2] Al Fox of BBC News wrote that the song has "menacing undertones" which unveils a different side to Perry, unlike her current "unsolicited residency in many a showbiz column.

Keri Mason from Billboard believed that tracks like "Circle the Drain" made the Teenage Dream album "get heavier sonically and lyrically, with a boom-boom-pow electro punch".

This being because her "put-downs are alternately pedantic" and hypocritical even, as she finds offense to his substance use before foreplay, but was singing about blacking out and hooking up on another of the album's tracks – "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)".

[17] Chris Richards of The Washington Post had a similar reaction, finding it impossible to take any of the cautionary advice "Circle the Drain" offered, as Perry had just bragged about being very drunk on the very same record.

[18] MTV News reporter James Montgomery, said when discussing several tracks on Teenage Dream, one of which included "Circle the Drain", that "they are all really pretty great" and are "destined to be smash hits.

Music journalist Chris Parkin found the song to be the only track on Teenage Dream to offer something deep and dark, citing the lyric "You fall asleep during foreplay because the pills you take are more your forté".

[20] In his review of the record for PopMatters, Steve Leftridge stated that tracks such as "Circle the Drain" are not strong, edgy or clever enough "to lend any genuine credibility to Perry as a serious artist with anything to actually say.

[25] In contrast, The Hollywood Reporter quoted Rolling Stone's Meredith Blake in her concert review saying she found it pointless to have those items onstage given the song's theme.