"[11] Pitchfork's DeAsia Paige wrote that the album faced a similar issue to Giveon's 2020 cover of D'Angelo's consummate "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" which "has all the spiritual vigor of a partner who sends you a lengthy good morning text every day; it's just not that stimulating."

The album's "expansive ballads seek to scale the highs and lows of love and heartbreak" but "Giveon more often sounds like he's cruising on autopilot in the center lane."

The album "paints a very familiar story of a hopeless romantic who's searching to understand their flaws and solve their relationship woes in the throes of newfound fame", but there's "no shortage of this narrative in contemporary R&B".

Compared to rum.gold's Thicker Than Water and Lucky Daye's Painted, on which "the challenge of being a self-aware lover is illuminated with a lush variety of soul-baring vocal arrangements that would make love's most dedicated critics become open to understanding the possibilities of healthy romance", "Giveon's narrative doesn't land."

Paige closes by noting that Take Time-era Giveon "experimented with melody and challenged himself vocally" while on Give or Take he "stunts that growth in favor of secluding himself in his comfort zone.