But not a 5, amirite?

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[4.78]

Micha Cavaseno: How appropriate: now that Becky G’s career is tethered to the miserable experience that is Empire, she starts producing songs that sound dated and clunky just like her show would expect her to.
[2]

Thomas Inskeep: This could soundtrack The Jane Fonda Workout Album 2015 on every level. But is it actually about sex? It sounds too Radio Disney-clean for that.
[5]

John Seroff: There’s a paucity of female-led mainstream pop songs with the audaciousness to flatly demand potential suitors come correct; memorable exceptions like “Push It,” “Short Dick Man” and “One Minute Man” tend to become longtime dancefloor standards. “Break a Sweat” is perhaps tamer on the face of it than that trio, but it’s no less catchy, maybe a bit more sex-positive and solely told from a woman’s perspective; the lack of a male feature rapper is both welcome and just short of revolutionary.
[8]

Katherine St Asaph: Did we need a PG “One Minute Man”? Would you have written such in the style of peppy-sultry cheerleader? Would you repeat “break a sweat” enough times it sounds like a kid with an Internet soundboard?
[4]

Iain Mew: “Boy you better put in work if you want to play” is a righteous demand, but “Break a Sweat”‘s exclusive focus on the work part is its undoing. Coupled with its relentless sound, it ends up a grind of expectations without the specificity to lend them purpose. By the time Becky’s singing “Baby you can’t be scared to put in overtime,” it sounds like a perfect ode to presenteeism.
[3]

Anthony Easton: The cheerleader rhythms and the handclaps make this the most fun come-on in the last couple of months. Plus, with some different production, the chorus could come from a Diane Warren power ballad, which I have developed an inordinate fondness of lately. 
[8]

Patrick St. Michel: Simplicity isn’t a bad approach to pop, but “Break a Sweat” just fails to offer anything particularly compelling. The chorus sounds like they had to think up something fast.
[4]

Brad Shoup: I can’t believe she’s from Inglewood, not when she rips off “all right all right”s like prime McConaughey. More sweat shoulda been expended drawing on that.
[4]

Alfred Soto: All hands on deck wrote a chorus and forgot the rest of the song, including the arrangement. A pity — she needs another “Shower.”
[5]