Critical reception
Who wrote the song?
Where Have You Been
"Where Have You Been" garnered positive reviews from music critics. Andy Kellman for Allmusic wrote that "Where Have You Been", along with the album's lead single "We Found Love", serve as "Talk That Talk"s "place-holding" dance tracks. Greg Kot for the "Chicago Tribune" compared "Where Have You Been" and "We Found Love" for being "rave-tastic." Aside from noting the similarities between the two songs, Randell Roberts for "Los Angeles Times" wrote that neither song would sound out of place at an Electric Daisy Carnival. Julianne Escobedo Shepherd for "Spin" also wrote that the song was a perfect play for a festival, writing Where Have You Been' is tailor-made for a Coachella pool rave." Jon Caramanica for "The New York Times" was complimentary of both songs, but wrote that "Where Have You Been" "is even better." Mark Graham for VH1 compared the song to one of Rihanna's previous singles from her 2007 album "Good Girl Gone Bad", "Don't Stop the Music", writing Where Have You Been will almost certainly be Rihanna's biggest club smash since 'Don't Stop the Music'. "Robert Copsey for Digital Spy shared the same opinion as Graham, writing "We labelled 'Where Have You Been' the record's 'Don't Stop The Music'." He continued to give an explanation as to why the songs are similar writing "On the surface, similarities between the two are almost non-existent, but on closer inspection, not only are they the danciest cuts on their respective LPs, they're both favourites that fans have been eager to see get an official release." Copsey concluded his review praising the song and Rihanna, writing "Like Rihanna herself, it's hectic, confident and unashamedly sexual." Meghan Brownfield for the "Columbia Missourian" praised the song as a track which people will want to dance to as well as writing that the lyrics ensure that the listener pays attention to the lyrics, saying "It is a song you would hear in a club that everyone would want to dance to. This song makes you want to move, and it also has some strong lyrics that make you focus on what she is saying." Matthew Cole for Slant Magazine, however, was critical of the song, writing that the song is a "boring dubstep-normalizing dance number reminiscent of LMFAO," as well as Rihanna's own "We Found Love".