the song received positive reviews. according to "spin", the song "finds drake ruminating on the ups and downs of celebrity." spin also called the production matching "drake's defiant tone with a martial beat and heavy staccato strings." "the huffington post" compared "headlines" to "marvins room" saying, "whereas "marvins room" is more devastating, "headlines" doesn't dwell so much in its despair, and has the kind of flash you would expect a song titled "headlines" to have." "the baltimore sun" said the song has "buoyant, staccato synth line and casio snares" and that "the beat calls for such a sing-song flow that few rappers could tackle it." "rolling stone" gave the song three stars out of five, saying that "the spare beat never takes off, and the hook is a slight thing, almost an afterthought – or maybe the clearest sign that even with booze, cynics and fame buzzing about, hip-hop's great hope isn’t overeager to please."