"Friend Zone" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Danielle Bradbery and written by Mikal Blue, Johan Lindbrandt and Shari Short.

Giving it an "F", Jonathan Keefe of Country Universe was heavily critical of the production and lyrics, which he panned for repeating words, improper syllable emphasis, and lines "that can’t even be bothered to keep their overworked, clichéd sports metaphors straight for the duration of a single verse."

He also thought that Bradbery and similar artists were attempting "to define themselves in terms of men."

He also wrote that "Simply as a piece of music, 'Friend Zone' does literally nothing competently, let alone doing anything well enough to justify its release by an artist of even Bradbery’s marginal name recognition.

"[1] Jim Casey of Nash Country Weekly rated the song "D−", saying that it was "full of laughably trite sports metaphors and masquerading as a country song via looped banjo."