Jaymie Baxley wrote an extense review for Slant Magazine, declaring that "the appearance of Common on 'Favorite Song' does threaten to disrupt business as usual. In fact, the harsh strums of electric guitar that preface the rapper's unexpected guest turn seem obstinately placed there to alert the listener of the ostensibly provocative rap verse to follow. But then Common starts dispensing bars of clumsy, musical-themed innuendo; it becomes clear that the song is just as bland and inoffensive as the rest of the album and those guitars were merely a tease. And the chorus is laughably unsexy: 'I want to be your favorite song/You can turn it up, play me all night long'." Another negative review came from Sputnikmusic, who wrote that "Caillat concocts what is quite possibly her cheesiest chorus yet, and it probably goes without saying that Common sounds sorely out of place. It is actually kind of reminiscent of those old-school Radio Disney songs that would mimic the melody of some major hit, make it a thousand times cheesier, and then have a rapper enter midway through to appeal to the “new, hip generation.” Needless to say, Colbie’s hip-hop experiment ends in futility." Andrea Hinton from Stanford Daily wrote that the song "has Caillat almost yelling during the grating chorus and, along with an unbelievably underwhelming contribution from rapper Common, seems out of place in the album." The song debuted at number forty on the Adult Pop Songs chart. It later, climbed to number thirty-five. In the third week, it reached a peak of number twenty-nine. In the fourth week, the song reached number twenty-seven. The song ultimately peaked at number 21. A music video for the song was shot on March 29, 2012 on the beach in Venice, California. The singer posted a photo from herself and Common on the set of the music video. Colbie spoke about the video in an interview:  "It’s a really cool concept. Common and I are singing on the rooftop of this house, overlooking the beach in Venice [California]. Basically the music travels down throughout the town and though the beach. It hits everyone and they all start singing it, and these people in their bathing suits walking on the boardwalk or guys on skateboards, they all find the music and come up to me and Common on the rooftop and watch us perform for them." The music video premiered on May 2, 2012.