Stewart Mason from Allmusic said "Following the Big Rawk Anthem ('Run to You') and the Sensitive Power Ballad ('Heaven'), 'Somebody' covers the third base as a straight-ahead singalong pop song with a killer chorus.

A gift to an entire generation of cover bands working the bar circuit, 'Somebody' has a chorus so simple and catchy that you can actually sing along to it even if you've never actually heard the song before, and Adams and his indispensable musical partner, Jim Vallance, helpfully point out the feasibility of said activity by incorporating a large, somewhat ragged group of backing vocalists for the lengthy vamp of a fadeout.

One features visual footage shot at the Massey Hall in Toronto, ON, over three nights on January 8, 9 and 10, 1985[6] of Adams and his band performing the song live, with the audience screaming in the background.

The video was produced by Concert Productions International who used the single's soundtrack off the LP and mixed that with the sound of a taped audience.

"Somebody" was part of the 24 songs, for which the first file-sharing copyright infringement lawsuit brought by major record labels to be tried to a jury.