Thematically, "Oh Caroline" is alove song that deals with hopelessness, unrequited devotion and suicide.[16][18][19] In the lyrics, Healy is pushed to the point of suicidal ideation, singing: "I'll try anything that you want to / I'll 'find myself in the moonlight' / 'Cause baby I want everything that you want / And I've tried to 'just be me' like a thousand times".[19] However, the singer seeks to make amends, singing: "Oh Caroline, I wanna get it right this time / 'Cause you're always on my mind".[5]
Evening Standard writer David Smyth said there is a "light Miami Vice funkiness" to the song.[9]
Brady Brickner-Wood ofPitchfork said the song blends Carly Rae Jepsen and Bruce Hornsby.[15]
Evan Sawdey ofPopMatters also echoed Brickner-Wood's Hornsby comparison.[19]
Matt Collar ofAllMusic said the song blends influences ofFleetwood Mac with the dance-oriented post-punk of the band'sself-titled debut album (2013).[7]
Steve Erickson ofSlant Magazine called the song "a lost adult-pop hit from 1985".[13]
Alex Swhear ofVariety noted dark undercurrents within the song's lyrics and said it "may be the first love song of note to bemoan 'gettingcucked'".[18]
Mitch Mosk ofAtwood Magazine wrote that the song contains a "no-holds-barred openness and directness" in its lyrics.[21]
The song placed 24th on theLos Angeles Times' best songs of 2022 list, with the editorial staff saying: "Imagine Lloyd Dobler hoisting that boombox outside Diane Court’s window and blasting 'The Way It Is' instead of “In Your Eyes.'"[22]
In a ranking of the band's best songs, Molly Marsh ofGigwise listed the song at number 43; the writer commended Healy's vocal performance and compared the song toLionel Richie's "All Night Long (All Night)" (1983).[23]
Ranking the song at number 47 in a list of the band's greatest songs forNME, Rhian Daly lauded the "gigantic" chorus and "rasped, urgent" bridge, deeming it a "big, bold pop song that feels both classic and completely fresh".[5]
Mark Kennedy of theAssociated Press said the song sounded similar to a theme song from a late-1970s romantic comedy television show.[24]
Philip Giouras ofGigwise gave the song a favourable review and deemed it "without a doubt as perfect as pop can be"; praising the "intelligent" groove and "anthemic" chorus, Giouras wrote that Healy "manages to find that sweet spot of yearning emotion in his tone and delivery".[4]
Stephen Ackroyd ofDork called the song a career highlight for the band and also made a comparison between the song and "All Night Long", saying the 1975 took Richie's track and "twisted and turned [it] into a track that draws together all strands and blends them together in perfect harmony".[26]
Brickner-Wood commended the song's timeless, retro sound and said: "It’s fun, it’s funny, it’s magnificent in its breadth—it makes you believe, however reservedly, that you, too, can 'find [yourself] in the moonlight.'"[15]
Deeming it among the most "stunning" and "deeply affective" songs on the album, Sawdey gave praise to the lyrics for "articulating the weirder corners of the human experience".[19]
Swhear called the song an audacious and unanticipated detour from the parent album.[18]
Mosk called the song an album highlight and wrote that it is an "inspiring, all-consuming celebratory" standout.[21]
Chris DeVille ofStereogum called it a "howl-along" and praised the production and lyrics.[14]
Joshua Williams ofBuzz Magazine also drew comparisons to the work of Richie.[27]
Eli Ordonez ofNME deemed the "nostalgic" song an album highlight, saying that the lyrics "demonstrate an exceptional amount of sincerity, an earnest tribute to unrequited love".[17]
In a mixed review, Claire Biddles ofThe Line of Best Fit said the song shares the "Californian sunset mood" of the band's "She's American" (2016) but lacks that song's imagination and specificity, while also deriding the lyrics as lazy.[28]
The editorial staff ofThe Irish Times were similarly ambivalent, saying the band "have merely gussied up their usual formula and are now presenting it with added affectations".[12]
Brady Gerber ofSpin called the song lean and light, which he felt made it enjoyable at face value, he bemoaned the song for sounding akin to aOne Direction song about suicide, ultimately deeming it a "cringeworthy execution and a pale comparison" to the 1975's "subversive" cover of One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful" (2011).[16]
