Musically, the song is a gospel and soul-influenced pop piano ballad that features minimal production and accompaniment from violins, violas, strings, celli, backing vocals and drums.

"Praying" received universal acclaim from music critics, who praised Kesha's vocals while calling the song powerful and noting it as a departure from her previous efforts.

Commentators offered conflicting interpretations of the song's message; some felt that "Praying" was about forgiveness, while others thought that Kesha displayed anger on the track.

Lewis subsequently contacted the singer's management and Kesha later accepted the offer due to her fondness for his work with Macklemore, particularly admiring how their discography featured a mix of "fun" and politically progressive songs.

Lewis said that his ambitions when writing the song were to showcase the singer's vocal range and represent her as a person, eventually feeling that the finished track accomplished both goals.

"[12] "Praying" is a pop piano ballad[13] written by Kesha, Ryan Lewis, Ben Abraham, and Andrew Joslyn that features elements of gospel[15] and soul music.

"[19] The Atlantic's Kornhaber thought that the track's message was "love your enemies" and displayed "Christlike grace", further noting that Kesha did not exude invulnerability on "Praying" the way she did in some of her previous songs, like "Dinosaur" (2010).

[25] Conversely, Pitchfork's Jillian Mapes felt that the song's sentiments were akin to "telling the person who ruined your life to 'take care' when you really mean 'fuck you,'"[26] while Billboard's Weiss interpreted the recording as a "coded threat that [Kesha] will no longer be silenced.

"[22] According to Tatiana Cirisano of the same publication, "While the chorus aims for reconciliation with an unnamed listener...there's still a flicker of anger in the singer's words, like in the lyric '...When I'm finished, they won't even know your name.

"[23] Weiss of Billboard found the track similar to Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know" (1995), which "empowered women to...call out men's abuses," "A Torch" (1998), a song about a vengeful rape victim from Sarge's album The Glass Intact, and Rihanna's "Russian Roulette" (2009), which deals with the singer's assault at the hands of Chris Brown.

[29] "Praying" received universal acclaim from music critics,[30] who positively regarded it as a departure from Kesha's past work and public image, and called it a great comeback.

"[31] HuffPost's Daniel Welsh wrote that it was an "empowering and haunting ballad" which "may come as something of a surprise to more casual Kesha listeners, who are perhaps more used to hearing her glittery songs about partying and having a good time.

"[32] According to Matthew Rozsa of Salon, "'Praying' is likely to be remembered as the moment when Ke$ha became Kesha — that is, when her overproduced image of a party girl transformed into that of a soulful artist".

"[25] Weiss of Billboard similarly commended the track, saying: "It would hard for even the biggest pop agnostic to not be rendered speechless by Kesha's new video and song 'Praying.

"[8] Time's Raisa Bruner called "Praying" "powerfully emotional", adding that "when she breaks out into a flawless whistle tone, it pretty much seals the deal: this new Kesha is stronger than ever, both as an artist and, seemingly, as a human.

"[34] According to Sampson of The Guardian, "Praying" is "a full-on chest-thumping, foot-stamping inspirational ballad, and [Kesha's] voice sounds better than ever....and it's good enough to make you forgive her for 'Timber' [sic].

[26] Althea Legaspi and Elias Leight of Rolling Stone similarly called the track "triumphant" and "uplifting",[19] while Patrick Hosken of MTV deemed it "about as soul-baring as anything gets.

[36] The Singles Jukebox ranked "Praying" as the best song of 2017, writing: "The music nods at large-scale drama but, rather than letting the drum and piano echo into space, the thuds stay close to the ear, like Kesha's singing to her own heartbeat.

[19][23] Kesha has described the experience of working with Åkerlund as "a dream come true" and said that the process of shooting the video was akin to a good, long therapy session.

[57] The video commences with a shot of Kesha inside of a coffin, flanked by a pair of men wearing suits and drooling pig masks with a neon cross in the background.

"[15] In the clip, the singer plays the piano while wearing a crown of thorns, angel wings and what Christina Cauterucci of Slate described as "a scaly mermaid-looking suit".

[59] At the song's climax, Kesha throws around colored powder in a manner similar to what is done during Holi, a Hindu festival which celebrates the victory of good over evil.

[60] HuffPost's Daniel Welsh felt that the video "feature[s] [Kesha's] usual mix of bright colours and outlandish costumes [and] an important message about overcoming troublesome times and seeing the light in the darkness.

"[62] Nashville Scene's Stephen Trageser commented that the clip was psychedelic and bore similarities to the films of Alejandro Jodorowsky; he also felt that it marked a "glorious return" for Kesha.

[63] Racked.com's Elana Fishman praised the singer's outfits in the video, including her rainbow gown,[56] while Pareles of The New York Times felt they were influenced by the work of Lady Gaga.

[31] Kornhaber of The Atlantic said the clip is "a high-gloss technicolor pop production from one of the masters of the form, director Jonas Åkerlund" and that it reminded him of Kesha's earlier work.

"[64] Maria Sherman of Complex complimented the use of the Salvation Mountain in the video, writing: "It's the perfect backdrop for the song, [with its] bright, colorful bible [sic] verses painted on neon adobe in the Colorado Desert in California.

"[13] Cauterucci of Slate opined that the clip's use of religious symbolism "confuses the thrust of the song", adding that the imagery "speak[s] to [Kesha's] vision for her new album as a kind of rebirth.

[34] The author further wrote that "evoking Beyoncé's imagery at the video's onset dilutes the message, making it feel more like an homage than the emotional purge [Kesha] says it is.

"[17] Similarly, The Stranger's Amber Cortes criticized Kesha for taking influence from Beyoncé's work in the "Praying" clip, writing that it emulated the "watery imagery" of the video for "Hold Up".