the lyrics, stating they "appear to be a rallying cry for society to become more politically involved and less complacent." Critical reception In a positive review, E!'s Samantha Scnurr wrote the song "sounds like a soon-to-be party classic with its easy pulse and disco elements, layered underneath the upbeat veneer, Perry delivers a strong message about awareness and activism—and, according to her, how it's lacking." NME reviewer Jordan Bassett praised the track as "like Daft Punk, but fun", and felt the production was "crisp-as-fuck". Writing for Vulture.com, Karen Brill was less favorable, questioning if the track was "pretty much just dance, without much subtext?" Another positive review came from Jason Lipshutz of Billboard, who felt it amplified "Perry's new musical agenda at a time when she needed one" with its political themes. According to him, "the single is built around lyrics chastising us for being 'happily numb' and 'tone deaf,' and tries to gently puncture the bubble that we create when we drown out the world's issues." Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine praised "Chained to the Rhythm", writing, "a track with a hook that implores listeners to 'Come on, turn it up/Keep it on repeat' had better deliver the goods, and this one most definitely does." Josh Duboff from Vanity Fair considered the song "a departure from straight-forward firework metaphors and nostalgic teenage romance anthems." He noted, "the idea of the song is that we are chained to the 'rhythm,' perhaps not questioning our daily lives and existences as much as we should be." MTV's Anne T. Donahue gave a positive review for the song, calling it a "hardly new terrain for Perry." She described it as a "totally fine song that's easy to listen and dance to, and one that does justice to her career in pop." NME ranked "Chained to the Rhythm" as their 17th best song of 2017, praising its "catchy-as-chlamydia" rhythm and "fine message". Chart performance In the United States, "Chained to the Rhythm" debuted and peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the highest debuting song by a female artist since Adele's "Hello" entered at number one on November 14, 2015. It debuted at number three on Digital Songs chart with 108,000 downloads sold in its first week, number 15 on Streaming Songs with 14.7 million US streams, and rose from 35 to 20 on Radio Songs with fifty million in