of The Guardian noted that Mauboy's vocals were "a little shaky at first" but commented that she was "clearly enjoying herself in front of the thousands of pop music lovers in the audience." Similarly, Al Newstead of Tone Deaf wrote it was "difficult to ignore some of the more wonky notes of Mauboy's swooping vocal lines." Newstead also believed that the "real low highlight" of her performance was the astronaut. Nastassia Baroni of Music Feeds commented that "after dusting off some initial flat notes, [Mauboy] rollicked into a high-energy performance, palpably relishing her moment as a dance diva in the global spotlight." Peter Vincent of The Sydney Morning Herald noted that she had "a nervous start and a couple of flat notes" but "quickly grew into the performance" and "even remembered to beam into the cameras and strike a few diva poses as she strutted about the stage." Vincent concluded that Mauboy's performance "was worthy of an international dance pop diva." A writer for The New Zealand Herald wrote that Mauboy's performance song was "a breath of fresh air" but wanted to know "what on earth is a sea of flags?." Alex Patrikios of the Australian Associated Press described the performance as "typically spirited" and "infectious", while Take 40 Australia described it as "epic." News.com.au called it "stunning" and "strong" and wrote that "the much-loved pop princess may have been unknown before arriving in Copenhagen but the audience quickly embraced her as her powerful voice rang out in the massive stadium." V Music commented that Mauboy "absolutely killed it. Slaughtered it. Straight up Liam Neesoned it." V Music also noted that the dancers in the musical number were dressed as "embarrassingly obvious stereotypes" of Australia. Similarly, Sophie Joske of Out In Perth noted that the musical number featured "the most nauseatingly stereotypical Australiana the world has seen since the Sydney Olympics." Tom Mann of Faster Louder described the musical number as a "spectacularly cringe-worthy celebration of Australian clichés" and wrote that Mauboy's performance is "a proud patriotic moment for all Australians." Mike Wass of Idolator called the musical number "a hot mess" but noted that Mauboy "looked (and sounded) great" as "she saved face (and national pride) by delivering a soaring rendition" of "Sea of Flags". Aboriginal fans of Mauboy's responded positively to her performance, with one fan saying: "I guess you could say you don't have to be Neil