[8] Upon the release, frontman Caleb Harper claimed “I wrote this song about how I was feeling like my life was a bit like one of those nightmares where you’re at school with no pants, except I used the metaphor of being on set and forgetting all of your lines".
[8] Caleb Triscari of NME wrote "Hardlight" is a "standout from the album", comparing its sound to that of the War on Drugs and containing "reverb and layered guitar to illustrate the lingering, meaningless ache of depression".
[10] Alex Callan of music publication Forte claimed "the Fremantle based garage rockers are in pretty good stead to take out the revered title" of topping Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2022.
Upon its issuing, Harper stated "it was cool to go back to the song and play around with ideas that didn’t quite make the album cut and approach it with fresh ears".
[11] While touring Melbourne venue Forum Theatre, the band further recorded a suite of additional acoustic performances of songs from Here Comes Everybody, including a rendition of "Hardlight" released in November 2022.