Critical reception Nick Levine of
Digital Spy awarded "Handle Me" four out of five stars, and wrote, "[Robyn]'s on rum old form on 'Handle Me', her follow-up tune [to "With Every Heartbeat"], taking it upon herself to put a very arrogant young man in his place." He concluded his review, saying that due to the song's backdrop, beats and blips, "Robyn sounds as if she's been beamed in from Mars. In the best possible way, of course." Talia Kraines of
BBC Music wrote that "
Jamelia would kill for a ballad as elegant as 'Handle Me'." Dan Cairns of
The Sunday Times wrote that it includes the "unforgettable put-down: “You’re a selfish narcissistic psycho freaking bootlicking Nazi creep.” The line comes, it should be noted, at the end of a killer chorus. A killer
pop chorus." David Hyland of WMUR-TV wrote, "The record's most striking track is "Handle Me," not only because of it has the potential to be a monster hit, but also because it's an interesting combination of contradictory impulses."
Chart performance "Handle Me" debuted at number forty-three on the
UK Singles Chart on the issue dated 3 November 2007. The following week, it reached its peak of number seventeen. The song spent a total of eleven weeks on the chart. In New Zealand, the song entered at number thirty-six on the issue dated 10 December 2007. After ascending on the chart for several weeks, the song reached its peak of number nineteen on the issue dated 21 January 2008, and stayed in that position for two weeks. In the United States, "Handle Me" debuted on the
Hot Dance Club Songs chart at number forty-nine on the issue dated 24 May 2008. The song steadily ascended during the following weeks and reached its peak of number five on the issue dated 26 July 2008. In the Flanders region in Belgium, the song peaked at number thirty-six and spent four weeks on the chart. "Handle Me" also reached number fifty-seven in Ireland, sixty-seven in the Netherlands, and eighty-six in Germany. ==Music videos==