An electronic rock lament, in the vein of Irish folk ballad rue, "Dope" is a bittersweet song centered on a dark theme.

After its release, "Dope" reached the top of the music charts in Hungary and Spain, while attaining top-ten positions in Belgium, France, Greece, Italy and Luxembourg.

The streams from the YouTube Music Awards performance helped the song become Gaga's 13th top-ten on the Billboard Hot 100 reaching number eight, as well as her highest charting promotional single to date.

Following her comeback with lead single "Applause" from the album, Gaga performed few songs from the record at the iTunes Festival in London in September 2013.

[4] One of the songs, known as "I Wanna Be with You", was performed as an acoustic version on the festival; Gaga called it an ode to her fans and about how much she had missed them while recuperating from the surgery.

[5] The composition and the musical elements associated with the track resembled Gaga's own song, "Hair", from Born This Way (2011) with its contemplative nature, and singer Rihanna's 2013 single, "Stay", with the piano driven melody and the powerful vocals.

[16] There is not much instrumentation accompanying the singer's vocals, except for piano sounds and distant synths, making Gaga's singing the focal point of "Dope".

[6] In order to give the production an intimate feeling and make it emotional, Rubin did not apply any pitch correction to Gaga's vocals, as noted by Jon Pareles from The New York Times.

With lines like "I promise this drink is my last one / I know I fucked up again / Because I lost my only friend", Lynch believed that Gaga was referring to her former assistant Jennifer O'Neil who had months ago moved to court against the singer for unpaid wages.

[9] On October 31, 2013, Gaga revealed via Twitter that "Dope" would be the final song available for purchase before the release of Artpop, accessible for digital download from November 4.

He described Gaga's face and the grills as "[resembling] the gum-less teeth of a long-buried skull cast in titanium" and believed that the hands and legs were prosthetic.

Walker concluded by saying that the cover reminded him of a "bizarro world" version of singer Janet Jackson's infamous shot for a 1993 Rolling Stone issue.

[24] Emma Kelly from Daily Star called the cover "creepier" than any horror film and felt that the wide jacket made the singer appear as a rugby player.

[20] Fashion website Refinery29's Leila Brillson felt that the artwork was more of a surrealist move which made Gaga look like a "nightmarish" version of virtual band Gorillaz.

[27] Jason Lipshutz from Billboard called the song a "Broadway show-stopper", adding that Gaga's broken vocals are brilliant and bruising.

[28] Jim Farber from New York Daily News felt the song expressed "great need in the lyrics while displaying only bravado in her delivery.

[15] While reviewing Artpop, Jerry Shriver from USA Today commented that amongst the loud music of the other songs, "Dope" sounded like "too much of a slog" to provide any change of pace while listening to the record.

[31] Leila Brilson from Refinery29 felt that with "Dope" Gaga allowed her "operatic voice" to soar; the song itself is a heart-aching ballad and an unforgettable moment on Artpop.

[49] John Walker from MTV News analyzed Gaga's look to be a combination of the snake from Tim Burton's 1988 fantasy film, Beetlejuice, the Scarecrow character from DC Comics and the rocker Marilyn Manson.

[50] During the performance, the singer wore a flannel shirt, her natural hair and a snapback with the NASA symbol altered to read DOPE and her face was devoid of any make-up.

[51] Gil Kaufman from MTV News found the performance to be pensive, saying that "leave it to Lady Gaga to go completely the other direction [than the tone of the show]".

He believed that although directors Spike Jonze and Chris Milk kept the focus on Gaga's tear-stricken face to give it an intimate feel, the screaming of the audience ruined the performance.

[55] In November 2013, Gaga hosted a two-day event called ArtRave, which served as the launch party of Artpop, and performed "Dope" on the piano.

[58] On December 6, 2013, Gaga performed both "Dope" and an acoustic rendition of Artpop's second single "Do What U Want" on Alan Carr: Chatty Man.

"[61] During her 2014 world tour, ArtRave: The Artpop Ball, Gaga performed "Dope" on a piano hidden inside a plastic mountain of icy crystals.