Composed of staccato verses, a harmonious chorus and a solo middle eight, "Denial" is a pop rock and disco song that samples "Standing in the Way of Control" by the Gossip.

The Sugababes performed "Denial" on Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, at the 2008 Oxegen Festival, and during their Change Tour.

[10] In October 2007, the Sugababes performed a cover version of "Hey There Delilah" by the Plain White T's on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge as the B-side to "Denial".

[15] Digital Spy's Nick Levine commented upon the song's compositional transition, writing: "'Denial' rides its elastic bassline to a transcendent, melodically-inspired chorus".

[20] Alexis Petridis of The Guardian classified "Denial" as a "beautifully-crafted bulletproof pop song",[21] while Manchester Evening News' Sarah Walters described the track as "a steamy, disco hit".

[6] Levine from Digital Spy rated the song four out of five stars; he regarded it as "brilliantly addictive", and "bouncier than a Labrador puppy on Ritalin, but classy too".

[15] Birmingham Mail critic Sean Coleman commended the Sugababes' emotion and harmonious vocal performance on the song, which he considered the standout from Change.

[22] Fraser McAlpine of BBC gave "Denial" a full five-star rating, and highlighted the Sugababes' vocal performance accompanied by the "raw, brittle emotion" in the song.

[23] Andreas Borcholte from German news magazine Der Spiegel positively highlighted it in comparison to the album's filler tracks.

A journalist from the Stornoway Gazette called it "disposable" despite the "undeniably lovely" harmonies, and stated that the song would have no impact on the quality of Change if it did not appear on the album.

[25] Tom Young of BBC wrote that the track "stumbles awkwardly" owing to the sample of "Standing in the Way of Control".

[14] Entertainment Ireland critic Lauren Murphy dismissed the song as "garden-variety pop" and wrote that it suggests the Sugababes "may be losing their magic touch".

[44] Scenes for the video were shot in a wide range of environments and locations, including a fire escape, loading bay, and storage cupboard.

[42] "I shot the video like [a] fashion editorial, using every inch of the studio, including the fire escape, the gantry and the loading bay.

"Digital Arts called the video "a sumptuously over-the-top affair" and wrote that the effects created "luxuriant, opulent visuals that capture the buzz, attitude and posing of a high-fashion shoot".

[19] They performed "Denial" in March 2008 on the eighth season of the British television show Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.

[52] Midway through the gig, technical difficulties with their microphones arose and the trio were forced to delay their performance while the issue was fixed.

[52] The band performed "Denial" in July 2009 at the Riverside Cricket Ground, County Durham as part of a set list.