Some critics compared the track to Spears's single at the time, "Perfume", with Kevin Harley of "The Independent" saying: ""Passenger" revisits that self-image [of Perfume], words yielding no surprises here: any fool knows that "You never know what you've got" completes the lyric of "Til it's Gone".", while Genevieve Koski from "A.V. Club" noted that both songs were "well-developed conceit and its genuine-seeming vulnerability, something Spears is much better at than most of her collaborators usually to give her credit for", later completing that Passenger "could easily be mistaken for a cover of a lost Katy Perry single." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of "Allmusic" highlighted the track by calling it "the purest pop moment on the record that finds a counterpart in the album's best ballad, "Perfume" and saying that Spears was "on focus" on the track. Rudy Klap from "Sputnikmusic" gave a mixed review, praising Diplo production and Spears voice, while criticizing the lyrics for being too submissive: "Spears should be the dominating one here, the force of her personality and that voracious hunger that powers her best songs pushing and pulling". Barry Walters from "Spin" too gave a mixed review by comparing it to the works of Perry, more specifically on 2013's "Prism", finishing by saying that the track "features Perry's straightforward vocal style (...) while delivering the album's only meaty melody, but its lyrics about living without a map aren't believable coming from Brit's lips. Unlike Madonna or Janet Jackson (or Katy Perry), Spears never seems in control." Credits adapted from the liner notes of "Britney Jean". Recording  Personnel