Here received positive reviews from critics, who applauded the raw and urgent quality of the music and its exploration of social struggles and African-American life.

Keys said that she was not planning a hiatus, but after she finished recording material for the album, she found out she was pregnant which "put a different time spin on things".

[11][12] Keys also played the piano on a Diplo-produced song "Living for Love" which was featured on Madonna's thirteenth studio album Rebel Heart (2015).

"[4]The lead single "In Common" was performed by Keys at Tribeca Film Festival on April 21, 2016,[18] on the May 7 episode of the comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live,[19] The Voice season finale on May 17,[20] at the UEFA Champions League Final in Milan on May 28,[21] BET Awards 2016 on June 26, and the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 26.

"[33] In Vice, Robert Christgau hailed the album as Keys' best record since her debut Songs in A Minor, deeming it "simultaneously raw and political", and crediting Swizz Beatz for defining "the funk her adventures in gospel grit demand, evoking Memphis thump while remaining so hip-hop that the samples stay in Nas-Wu-Tribe territory".

[37] The Wall Street Journal's Jim Fusilli credited the singer for pursuing new and less-commercial sounds without discarding her classic-soul forte,[2] and Rolling Stone journalist Keith Harris said she exhibited more cruder R&B rather than the classical piano influences of her past work while suggesting a "hectic but coherent" atmosphere evocative of New York City, with influences from boom bap, Latin music, and 1970s soul.

[31] Nick Levine from NME praised Keys' "looser and more youthful" approach, and appreciated that she "doesn't shy away from the personal here" while also looking outwards in explorations of social struggles.

[34] According to Ludovic Hunter-Tilney of the Financial Times, Here was animated by "politically active music" such as Sam Cooke's 1964 Civil Rights anthem "A Change Is Gonna Come", and suggested that Keys' "powerful vocals carry the memory of Lauryn Hill in her prime.

Andy Kellman of AllMusic observed energy and conviction in Keys' performance, and a number of "career standouts" in "She Don't Really Care_1 Luv" and "Blended Family".

He ultimately found the album's music hastily made, "hollow", and "crude", however, attributing this to "Keys' invigorated energy level and need to simply expel ideas, rather than refine them".