Club write Katie Rife described "Washing Machine Heart" as a "deranged domestic ballad with a pleasantly disorienting beat".
[5] AllMusic critic Marcy Donelson wrote, "stomping, clapping, and relentless keyboard bleeps permeate the brutal, danceable 'Washing Machine Heart', evoking the appliance as well as the wife's frustration ('I'm not wearing my usual lipstick/I thought maybe we would kiss tonight').
"[7] In an episode of the BBC 6 Music's Artist in Residence: AAA, Mitski's producer Patrick Hyland states that the song was originally not going to be included on its album Be the Cowboy.
[12] Spin writer Maggie Serota said that in the video, "Mitski is lit and styled like a femme fatale from an old noir film, while her lyrics plead for a kiss, likely from the shirtless man lurking in the shadows.
"[13] Consequence wrote that the music video is "a haunting accompaniment to Mitski' lilting run-on vocals, punctuated by catchy, bleepy synths in one of the stunning album’s most infectious earworms.