The song features synthesizer chords with a slow beat and includes a beatboxing, percussion, and staccato sounds.

[1] In September 2006, Timberlake told Rolling Stone that the song was "a hip-hop ballad" and that the process of creating "took two hours to imagine and execute".

[6] Timberlake revealed in 2013 that he originally asked rapper Jay-Z (whom he would collaborate with extensively in his later career) to appear on the track before T.I.

[4] The Guardian described the song as a "languid love ballad, prickling with dark emotion",[2] while MTV News described the beat as "slow and saucy".

[18] Ben Williams of New York magazine wrote that it has "stabbing techno riff, crunched-together mouth-popping noises, and wailing opera singer".

[3] Alexis Petridis of The Guardian said that the single is "a twitching mass of rave synthesizers and [agonizingly] slow beats".

[14] In July 2006, The Observer Music Monthly interviewed Timberlake and stated that the track "is arguably the album's 'Cry Me a River'.

"[2] When asked about the lyrics, "There's just one thing I need from you: say I do", being autobiographical, he said no, adding that the line before that, "this ring here represents my heart", is about marriage and love.

[3] The Georgia Straight's Martin Turenne interprets the song's background as Timberlake lowering himself on bended knee, proposing long walks on the beach and asking, "Would you date me on the regular?".

[19] Dagny Salas of North by Northwestern considered it a more romantic song, about Timberlake professing his love to a woman.

In typical Justin fashion, this track is smothered with falsetto notes that all come together to tell us a dreamy love tale."

In The New York Times review of the album, critic Kelefa Sanneh wrote: "...'My Love', a sumptuous collaboration with the rapper T.I.

Then the real thing hits: sleek synthesizer chords punctuated by tiny bursts of silence.

"[23] Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine wrote that the track "mixes Timberlake's proud beatboxing talent with colossal, futuristic synth swirls and a cartoonish, maniacal giggle that's looped ad infinitum a la the crying baby from Aaliyah's 'Are You That Somebody?'".

[24] Matthew Gasteier of Prefix magazine noted that the song "is probably the standout triumph here, with stuttering synths and a fade-in-fade-out shimmering beat that may be the best ever from Timbaland".

[16] Jonah Weiner of Blender magazine cited the song as the "standout" song from the album and wrote that the single "...straddles the album's up-tempo FutureSex and balladeering LoveSounds halves — one coos about puppy love over the other's stroboscopic, salivating beat, and both trade devotionals on the chorus".

Sanneh reported that Timberlake "exhales his clumsy pickup lines" with the lyrics "If I told you you were beautiful / Would you date me on the regular?".

[16] Emily Vaughan of North by Northwestern commented that Timberlake claims to have gone around the world twice in "My Love" and "Damn Girl" and that he is also "running out of creative ways to say he would like you to go to bed with him".

[31] The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop annual critics' poll voted "My Love" as the fourth best single of 2006; Timberlake's "SexyBack" and T.I.

[48] The video incorporates a black-and-white background and dancing, choreographed as the steps are in sync with the beat of the song.

[49] The video starts with "Let Me Talk to You" as the background is surrounded by faulty fluorescent lighting, turning on and off in a programmed pattern.

At the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, Timberlake won Male Artist of the Year for "Let Me Talk to You/My Love", "SexyBack", and "What Goes Around ... / ... Comes Around".

[50] He, alongside choreographers Blake Anthony and Marty Kudelka, won Best Choreography in a Video for "My Love".

"My Love" was performed by Timberlake at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards on August 25 as part of a medley.

VH1's Emily Exton in a 2013 article said that in the song Timberlake "reinvents mainstream pop music and increases his artistic credibility at the same time.

"[60] In an article about Timberlake's catalogue in 2016, Idolator staff stated the song "is one of the foundational texts of the PBR&B explosion of the 2010s," also noting the track's cyborg theremin wails, slo-mo rave synths and a frail falsetto "it's the midpoint between the space futurism of Aaliyah and Ginuwine's hits, and the robo-blues that would emerge with 808s & Heartbreak."

They concluded saying that since the "narcotized" music became a chart-topper, it opened the door for artists like The Weeknd "to hit big with something as sinister as "The Hills" nearly a decade later.