[13][14] Drummer Ashton Irwin said of the song in an interview with Beats 1: "'Want You Back' articulates the band we were, we are now, and what we're gonna be, that's why I like it and that's why we picked it.

[16] Madeline Roth of MTV News stated that the song "marks a huge departure from the band's raucous pop-punk roots".

She found the band "opting for a slick, more polished pop sound on the new tune, which finds them reminiscing about an ex and wondering what went wrong".

Althea Legaspi of Rolling Stone regarded it as a "pop-flavored track reflects on a lost love and captures the yearning that often follows a breakup".

[18] Mike Wass of Idolator wrote that the band have abandoned "the pop/punk of their first two albums and dive head-first into slick, radio-friendly pop with a rhythmic edge".

[20] Nicole Mastrogiannis of iHeartRadio opined that it "takes a step back from 5SOS's signature pop/punk vibes" and "playing up the guys' pop side a bit more".