The song was written by Tinashe, Myron Birdsong, Brown, its producers Lulou and Alexander Kronlund, and Chloe Angelides.

[16] With sparse production,[17] the song features incandescent synths reminiscent of Tinashe's 2014 single "2 On",[14][3] and a pulsing bassline similar to that on her 2014 album Aquarius.

[1] At first, the song has a minimal sound and slowly builds with Tinashe performing over stuttered kick, trap beats up until it peaks at the refrain where the track becomes more uptempo, dance-orientated.

observed, "Production-wise, ['Player'] is a dance floor-geared number as thudding beats and twinkling synths are streamlined into a four-on-the-floor thump during the chorus".

[3] Carley concluded that the track veers "into bigger capital P-pop territory with hugely successful results", and that proved Tinashe was "coming for the top spot".

[12] The song was well received by reviewers for Entertainment Weekly; Jessica Goodman deemed it "a thumping single",[23] while Will Robinson felt it was "charged and more celebratory" than "Party Favors".

[4] Zach Frydenlund of Complex said the song was "made for radio", and noted that Brown "actually lays down a pretty fire verse".

[19] Courtney Buck of The 405 felt the track was "slickly-produced" and described it as "delicately laced with pop pristine that has a much wider appeal to some of her earlier material".

[13] USA Today named it their song of the week; writer Maeve McDermott complimented its pop and dance music direction.

wrote, "The words 'featuring Chris Brown' aren't exactly a strong selling point due to the singer's questionable personal life," but found "Player" to be "a banger" nevertheless and praised Tinashe's "catchy" melodies.