"The Hollywood Reporter" wrote that "'Helpless' measures up to the most irresistible pop songs about love at first sight in the way it captures the sheer giddiness and joy of a romantic thunderbolt." The "Washington Post" said the song was "a divinely refined girl-group treatment of Hamilton's courtship of Eliza." "The American Conservative" said the song is "a gorgeous song where helplessness is a child's terror but also a lover's rapture." "Helpless" is performed on "The Hamilton Mixtape" by Ashanti and Ja Rule, both of whom Miranda cites as inspirations for the composition of the song. "Ashanti and Ja Rule were in my head when I was writing 'Helpless,'" Miranda told "Entertainment Weekly". "It has the structure of an Ashanti-Ja Rule song: two verses, two choruses, a guest rap feature, then back to the chorus and around." Of getting Ashanti and Ja Rule to perform the song for the mixtape, producer Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson told the magazine: "When it came down to figuring out these songs [on the "Mixtape"], I was just like, 'Dude, this is the white elephant in the room: Are you guys really not gonna go after Ja Rule and Ashanti?' You "wrote" it for them. You might as well just have them do it.'" When they agreed, Thompson says, "I was happy as hell." Another version by The Regrettes was released on May 31, 2018.