[11] Lisa Wright, a writer from NME, lauded the song, declaring "not since Miss Arulpragasam herself has there been a track that makes violence sound so goddamn danceable.

"[11] Zach Baron of Village Voice praised the song's production, comparing it to "winning a video game shootout inside of a disco that's on neon fire.

"[12] Michael Saba of Paste also wrote highly of the song, calling it "a beast of a track—three minutes of the crunchy, glitched-out riffs and titanic hooks".

[13] PopMatters' editor Arnold Pan, like other critics, commented on the song's intensity, writing, "You'll probably be too shellshocked by the anxiety-inducing and heart-palpitating thrills of the leadoff track 'Tell 'Em' to do anything else but take it all in, even if your eardrums tell you to turn off the racket.

"[8] In Sputnikmusic's review of the album, the song was described as "the perfect litmus test: buzzsaw guitars, frenetic bass, and Alexis Krauss' melodic, choir-girl vocal hooks make for something as initially uncomfortable as it is incredibly catchy.

Club stated "tracks like 'Tell 'Em' and 'Treats' trade on some of the last three decades of pop music's most noxious textures—harmonized, Joe Satriani-esque guitar heroics; dark stabs of synthesizers lifted from crunk and snap—but those sounds are transformed into undeniable hooks when filtered through Miller's songwriting smarts and laid under the deceptively sweet vocals of Alexis Krauss.