Gnash enlisted San Francisco singer-songwriter Olivia O'Brien with the help of JB, who originally wrote the song, to provide the vocals for the track.

[5] Musically, "I Hate U, I Love U " is a Midtempo Pop song backed by a Piano, with elements of snap and Alt-R&B.

In September 2017, Muslim Nasheed artist Siedd released a cover version of 'I Hate U, I Love U' on YouTube.

[8] The song which has over 3 million views on YouTube features a capella arrangements with rewritten lyrics to reflect spiritual themes.

[9] Time was negative towards "I Hate U, I Love U", labeling it as one of the worst songs of 2016, writing "Forget The Chainsmokers and Halsey's chart-conquering smash 'Closer'—the most depressingly zeitgeist-defining song of 2016 is gnash's piano ballad 'i hate u, i love u,' with singer-songwriter Olivia O'Brien, which inexplicably rose to the Top 10 of the Hot 100 this year.