"I Can See the Change" is the followup to Celeste's January 2020 single "Stop This Flame" which achieved major European mainstream radio airplay success in early 2020.

"[9] As the song was released amid the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, Celeste wrote that it took on a "new and more powerful meaning" because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the "global reinvigoration" of the movement.

Keaton Bell wrote, "Channeling the old-school glamour of classic film noir, Celeste sings of her desire for change in many forms alongside footage from a 1963 Martin Luther King Jr.

[7] Tom Skinner of NME described "I Can See the Change" as a "stirring ballad" which includes "subtle orchestral elements" which accompany Celeste's "powerful" vocals as the track progresses.

[3] Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote that the song "negotiates the digital and human, striving to stay embodied", and described Celeste as "a singer defying Auto-Tune to waver and swoop like Amy Winehouse and, perhaps, Billie Holiday.