's contribution on "Suit & Tie" received mixed reviews.|alt=Jay-Z in 2011. Upon release, "Suit & Tie" received mixed-to-positive reviews from music critics. Andy Kellman of
AllMusic gave it three out of five stars, stating it "serves the same flirty dancefloor purpose" as "Rock Your Body". Andrew Halverson of
Beats Per Minute said the song "seems to point to the notion that JT still knows what he's doing". Deb Doing Dallas of the
Dallas Observer called it "just one song off an album that is entirely capable of making up for this sleepy release". A reviewer from
The Independent wrote that Timberlake's voice appears to have "gone up an octave" since he last released new music. The reviewer also compared "Suit & Tie" to "
Rock Your Body" and "SexyBack". Melinda Newman of
HitFix said to "leave it to Timberlake" to represent R&B in a way that "few contemporary artists are today", noting
Bruno Mars and
Miguel as exceptions.
Stephen Deusner of
Pitchfork awarded "Suit & Tie" the website's Best New Track tag, praising Timberlake's vocal performance and Timbaland's production by saying: "Timbaland creates a smooth beat out of a marimba roll and harp glissando that Marvin Gaye must have left on the cutting-room floor, and Timberlake rides it with that fluid, effortless falsetto". Deusner, however, called the feature verse from Jay-Z "another in a string of uninspired cameos", but said it could not "sink [the song's] slinky vibe".
Jody Rosen of
Rolling Stone gave it three-and-a-half out of five stars, and said it "is natty—as expertly tailored and crisply pressed as a high-end tux". Chris Martins of
Spin said: "Timberlake's voice sounds stronger than ever—smoother, more rounded, pretty, mature".
Vogue Australia said: "While not ground-breaking by any means, its the perfect track for summer soirees and will please his legion of pop-loving fans". Jason Lipshutz of
Billboard gave "Suit & Tie" three-and-a-half out of five stars, and said it "is a good song, but it's not the artifact from another planet that we've been expecting, nor it is the ambitious experiment that Timberlake alludes to when he describes heading into the studio and 'just creating with no rules'". Ernest Wilkins of
Chicago Tribune said the song "sounds like it was conceived, recorded, funded, and sponsored by a department store that hasn't been relevant in a long time". Michael Cragg of
The Guardian wrote that it feels like the work of someone "luxuriating in the fact they're making music again" rather than someone "desperate to redefine pop in the face of its recent club-related slump". He stated it is not a "sound-redefining, statement-making, globe-conquering comeback single" like "
SexyBack" (2006), but "more of a midway point" between his previous singles "
Señorita" and "
Summer Love". Joseph R. Atilano of
Philippine Daily Inquirer said it "might just be a case of him being away too long from the music scene which could have resulted in, just maybe, Justin losing a step or two".
Popjustice called the song "officially, and very disappointingly, mediocre", and said "it could make a decent third single from an album, if they were struggling". Sal Cinquemani of
Slant Magazine said the song "is more filler than killer, more informal reintroduction than explosive comeback". Eight editors from
Spin—Charles Aaron, Christopher R. Weingarten, David Marchese, David Bevan, Caryn Ganz, Brandon Soderberg, Philip Sherburne, and Marc Hogan—gave it mixed scores ranging from five to seven out of ten, with an average score of 6.25.
Accolades ==Commercial performance==