[11][12][13] It moves between lush jazz-funk and a cappella breakdowns, featuring a massive synth-stoked chorus and scoring similar to that of James Bond end credit theme.

[14] The track was described as impressively detailed; containing a below-the-mix vocal loop, warm horns handled by Williams, a perpetually meandering electronic keyboard line.

[8] Ocean makes his vocal presence front center on the track, a move compared to the pomposity of musical choreographer Busby Berkeley, with lyrical influence from Joan Didion and Randy Newman.

[20][21] Placed in a tropical setting, Ocean spins a narrative of the finer pleasures of high-class living, and how they can act as blinders to life's expansiveness, with lines such as "you've had a landscaper and a housekeeper since you were born".

[22] Along with Channel Orange track "Super Rich Kids", "Sweet Life" is a commentary of aimless, money obsessed teenagers, with parallels of Bret Easton Ellis's Less than Zero.

[12][24][25] The composition presents a struggle by Ocean to avoid the fripperies of wealth, and serves as a "haunting meditation" on how money makes living well possible, while also noting the downsides it offers.

[2] Ology writer Terron R. Moore mused that unlike West, Ocean was "an inherently sad guy" and that feeling of inner loss and hopelessness appears on every track on the album, even when he's supposed to be singing about the "Sweet Life".

[29] Jason Lipshutz of Billboard mused that Ocean took on the role of a "captain" on the track, prodding the privileged to reach for more by unraveling their lavish realities; "Why see the world, when you got the beach?"

[30] Robert Everett-Green of The Globe and Mail stated that the track depicts dislocated lives of easy pleasure, of "keepin’ it surreal" with pills and sunshine, in music that’s supposedly all about feeling good.

"[14] Pitchfork's Larry Fitzmaurice labeled it a "Best New Track" and noted that "this was a week where Frank Ocean bravely invited us to learn more about his personal story; 'Sweet Life' is another reminder of how well he can structure a narrative in the musical realm.

"[11] The Telegraph's Neil McCormick noted that Ocean took the R&B genre and pushed it out into strange new places, with tracks like the "blissful, jazzy jigsaw of 'Sweet Life', which seems to assemble itself from disconnected elements as it goes along.

"[35] Mike Powell's Spin praised Ocean's writing abilities, musing "my 'TV ain't HD, that's too real', the narrator of 'Sweet Life' complains, then returns to his swimming-pool floatie.

"[24] Killian Fox of The Observer reported that the song was one of the few times on the album when Ocean was actively courting heavy radio play, describing "Sweet Life" as a "near-perfect distillation of every blissed-out summer jam from Stevie Wonder onwards.

[37] Nathan Slavik of the DJBooth called the vocals "appropriately sweet, softly painting a picture of a life lived in the black Beverly Hills", and commented "just in time for the weekend, expect to hear this one played at pool side barbecues nationwide.

[26] Aidin Vaziri of the San Francisco Chronicle listed the song as one of the "swoon worthy" tracks off the album, and felt that Ocean "managed to evoke the carefree feeling of Saturday mornings in front of the television watching Train.