[1] It is a synthwave, electropop, dance, and synth-pop song that discusses the singer's incapacity to maintain healthy relationships, instead being drawn inexorably back to the dysfunctional and destructive.

[6] Charli revealed the song via Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok on 2 August 2021, with an image of the single art and a behind-the-scenes video, as well as a link to pre-order the track.

[6] Oscar Holter of Max Martin's Wolf Cousins group created the song, which lyrically laments the singer's "incapacity to maintain healthy relationships, instead being drawn inexorably back to the dysfunctional and destructive."

Emma Murphree of The Daily Californian states that "The bouncy, distorted baseline underlying the opening bars of the song help build anticipation.

"[16] Chris Deville of Stereogum states "At just over two minutes, the song is short and sweet, merging those ’80s new wave and synthpop touchstones with more of a Y2K-era pop sensibility.

"[14] Pitchfork's Quinn Moreland complimented the song but lamented its short runtime, stating "Leave it to Charli XCX—whose finger has always been on the pulse of something weirder than the radio—to usher in some fun.

“Good Ones,” her latest single, embraces, as she put it in a recent interview, the “Charli ultra popstar” version of herself, but uses this persona to examine her very human tics" and that "so many pop songs drag on for too long, but this one could stand to stretch its legs.