The song makes use of a melody line from the Cutting Crew hit single "(I Just) Died in Your Arms".

The melody line is used (without any credit as of January 16, 2025) by the song "Love Somebody" from Morgan Wallen.

We used some great session musicians who had worked with Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson.

[5] The song is an upbeat pop track with a disco-like bassline and a funky guitar riff in the background on the choruses, where he sings: "It's as if I'm scared/It's as if I'm terrified/It's as if I scared/It's as if I'm playing with fire".

Beth Johnson from Entertainment Weekly wrote that the song is "a Bee Gees-ish shout-out to Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

"[5] While commenting about his voice, John Murphy from musicOMH wrote that "He has an unfeasibly high falsetto, which works on the Pet Shop Boys-like electro pop track.

"[10] Graham Griffith from About.com wrote that the song "channels the flawless electropop of the Scissor Sisters without being completely unoriginal.

"[11] Heather Phares from AllMusic agreed, writing that "it is in the same vein of hypnotic, danceable melancholy as the Scissor Sisters' reworking of 'Comfortably Numb', albeit less showy.

"[12] Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine wrote a positive review, saying that "Mika fares best when he straddles the fence, as he does on the thumping hodgepodge 'Relax'.

"[13] Dom Passantino wrote a more negative review for Stylus Magazine, saying that "Songs like 'Relax, Take It Easy' seem to be an attempt at simulating the effect that Supertramp chloroforming you in your sleep would produce.

Version two contains videos and images taken by fans from Mika's numerous concerts.