Jim Farber of the "New York Daily News" gave a positive feedback, stating that it is "everything a single should be: pithy, simple and maddeningly catchy, her most instantly embraceable single since 'Holiday'". Farber also highlighted the lyrics, which he felt covered familiar ground for Madonna by talking about the power of dance music. This thought was shared by Fouz-Hernández, who believed that like her debut single "Everybody", "Music" defined Madonna's artistic credibility. Reviewing the parent album for "Rolling Stone", Barry Walters also compared it to Madonna's earlier work. Sal Cinquemani from "Slant Magazine" called it Madonna's best dance track since "Vogue", also comparing it to her 1985 single, "Into the Groove". In his review of Madonna's 2001 compilation "GHV2", Cinquemani praised the single's "retro club beats and vintage synth sound". Giving it a B rating, he concluded that "only a former material girl living in a NASDAQ world could get away with a song like this". Dimitri Ehrlich from "Vibe" found "Music" to be "a bouncing parade of synthesizers that pose the question 'Do fortysomething baby-mamas still have the divine right to get down?' (The answer is yes)". Chuck Arnold from "Entertainment Weekly", called it one of Madonna's "most eccentric hits ever" and found it to be reminiscent of her earlier works, specifically "Holiday". "Billboard"s Chuck Taylor praised the song as a "stunning enterprise, a ballsy testament to [Madonna's] insistence on being a style-setter and one of the industry's most savvy—and now critically accountable—tunesmiths". He believed that both radio and the audience would be shocked with the experimentation Madonna achieved in the track. Larry Flick from the same publication described the song as "anthemic", also predicting a positive commercial reception. Ethan Brown, from "New York" magazine, stated that the song "elicits memories of past pop odes to dance culture", and praised its "giddy mix of electro-bounce, campy vocoder chants, and funky keyboard squeals". Charlotte Robisnon of "PopMatters" believed that "Music"'s appeal lay in the "freewheeling, fun spirit" nature of Madonna, which had initially made her popular. However, she also called it a "goofy Rick James rip-off".