Bill Lamb of About.com praised it as "one of the most gorgeous ballads Kelly Clarkson has yet recorded."

In neither case did she go the obvious route and sing "The House That Built Me," the gorgeous ballad that's up for Song of the Year.

On the gorgeous ballad of "Marissa," solo guitar takes center stage, though the robust dancing is never tucked too far into the background.

He terms Suzy's "Everybody's Got a Home but Me", a "gorgeous ballad of yearning".

The second half of the album has more of a pastoral feel to it, including the gorgeous medieval-style ballad The earth beneath our feet.

Bill Lamb of About.com picked the song as one of the best from the album, calling it a "gorgeous ballad".

Author Tim Riley acknowledges that the song is "a potentially gorgeous ballad" but suggests that it be "revised and saved from its unfinished limbo."

Robert Christgau of The Village Voice called her contribution "one of the most gorgeous ballads you've ever heard".

Allmusic.com describes the song as a gorgeous ballad.

American Aftermath called it a "gorgeous ballad" that "could fill even the coldest shell of a person with emotion".