The song reached top 40 in charts of numerous territories including Australia, Hungary, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Flanders and Wallonia regions of Belgium.

To promote the song, the Jonas Brothers performed "Only Human" on several occasions and also included it on the set list for their Happiness Begins Tour (2019–2020).

[3] "Only Human" was the last song written for Happiness Begins after the album's songwriters and producers Max Martin and Shellback approached the band.

[9][10] In terms of musical notation, the song is composed in 44 time and the key of D minor at moderately slow tempo varying between 92 and 96 beats per minute.

In a positive review, Olivia Horn of Pitchfork praised the composition of the song, noting that "the reggae beat [...] works surprisingly well".

[9] Christopher Thiessen of Consequence of Sound criticized the lyrical content and wrote that "the sincerity in performance and deep devotion to melody-crafting" made up for it.

[29][30] In Europe, the song impacted the airplay charts in numerous territories, reaching top ten peaks in Germany,[31] Netherlands,[32] Poland,[33] Romania[34] and Slovakia.

[5] The visual opens inside a nightclub having a giant disco-ball and ceramic horse statues where the Jonas Brothers are performing on stage wearing opaque sunglasses and colourful retro outfits alongside professional ladder dancer Declan McDonough.

[1] The clip is interspersed with grainy footage of the group playing with rotary telephones and synchronized dancing of the audience beneath the neon disco lights.

[6] Over the course of the video, the brothers and the crowd take to the streets where Joe Jonas dances and sings, standing on top of a vintage yellow NYC taxi.

[41] Katrina Rees of Celemix praised the video's "nostalgic take on a classic era" which she felt "fit[ted] in perfectly with the old school vibe of the song.