Elastic Love

[1] During an interview with People in 2008, Aguilera stated that she was going to start recording new material for her forthcoming album at her home in Beverly Hills.

[5] Aguilera's decision not to perform her "trademark warbling" while recording the song disappointed M.I.A., as she detailed in an interview with MTV News UK:[5]I really thought I was going to be able to go in there and get her vocals on to the next level and she didn't want to do it.

It's interesting getting to work with people who can do things vocally that you can't... but yeah I only heard the song for the first time when everyone else did.

[7] The part "If I was a ruler I'd try to set you straight, but your love is like a sharpener, it really grates" was praised by several critics,[6][7] while the lines "A rubber band was an analogy, you can even say it's a metaphor" were described by others as unnecessary, with Becky Bain for Idolator calling it "dumber-than-dumb".

Becky Bain of Idolator provided a positive review, writing it "fresh", "bouncy" and "interestingly bereft of Aguilera's power notes".

[6] Stephen Thomas Erlewine for AllMusic picked "Elastic Love" as one of the four best tracks on Bionic and commented that the song has a "glassy chill".

[13] UK newspaper The Scotsman called it "eccentric",[8] while Leah Greenblatt from Entertainment Weekly named it a "squiggly, hypnotic banger".

[14] Greg Kot from Chicago Tribune wrote that "Elastic Love" has the best moments of the album, with the electro beats and psychedelic arcade of sound effects.

[15] According to Attitude's Alim Kheraj, on "Elastic Love" Aguilera tones down her "powerhouse vocals" and displays versatility.

[17] Richard Wink from Drowned in Sound deemed it a "wonderful" track, which "makes up for the poor beginning to the album".

's lyrical chemistry acts as a "the real amorous game", calling it "a fun duet, suggesting a two-girls-at-play theme that doubles in size".

's "incredible pop melody" and "off-kilter backing of squelching electronics and sub-bass" and observed how her instrumentation "has also uniquely managed to calm down Aguilera's usual attention-all-shipping vocal approach into something weirder: dead-eyed, thickly smeared with dubby echo".

[20] Similarly, in the annual Pazz & Jop critics poll of the year's best in music, "Elastic Love" was ranked as the second best song by Andrew Stout.