[1] "State of Grace" was recorded by the audio engineers Brian David Willis, Chad Carlson, and Matt Rausch, and it was mixed by Justin Niebank, at Blackbird Studio, Nashville.

[15] In June 2017, it received a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America, which denotes 500,000 track-equivalent units based on sales and on-demand streaming.

[19] Swift performed "State of Grace" as a "surprise song" during the July 10, 2018, concert in Landover, Maryland, as part of her Reputation Stadium Tour.

[6] Critics said the rock-leaning production departed from the country-pop sound of her previous albums and cited the Irish rock band U2 as a possible influence.

[30] According to the musicologist James E. Perone, the track has a 1980s-college-rock throwback feel, a guitar sound evoking the style of U2's the Edge, and a melodic quality reminiscent of the Australian rock band Men at Work (specifically citing their song "Who Can It Be Now?"

[28][33] As Red's opening track, "State of Grace" sets the tone for an album about broken relationships and the conflicting emotions that ensue.

"[36] In the second verse, the beats halt and Swift sings; "We are alone, just you and me / Up in your room and our slates are clean / Just twin fire signs / four blue eyes.

[25] In a review for The Atlantic, Brad Nelson said Swift introduced more nuances to the narrative than those in her previous love songs; after "clichéd" lyrics at the beginning, she "gets writerly" with the second verse using "the kind of details that detach from a narrative and stretch over it like clouds", reminding Nelson of the work of Steely Dan songwriters Walter Becker and Donald Fagen.

[d] Bernard Perusse from the Edmonton Journal[43] and Randall Roberts from the Los Angeles Times[32] found "State of Grace" a worthwhile experimentation.

[44] Jonathan Keefe from Slant Magazine and Sean Daly of the Tampa Bay Times felt the production led to a diminishing quality of Swift's songwriting,[45] but the latter remarked that it was "bold regardless".

[46] Retrospective reviews of "State of Grace" have been generally positive, and several critics picked it as an example of Swift's artistic versatility and a high point on Red.

[52] Jason Lipshutz from Billboard admired what he deemed a concise hook and an exhilarating production, and he proclaimed "State of Grace" as one of Swift's most enduring non-singles.

[53] The track featured on Billboard's 2017 list of the "100 Best Deep Cuts by 21st Century Pop Stars", and its editor Andrew Unterberger praised the refrain for "[saying] everything it needs to say in so few syllables".

[60] Reviewing Red (Taylor's Version), Keefe appreciated how the reworked instrumentation gave the track a stronger emotional resonance.