mid-tempo rock, with the drum track being a loop of the oft-sampled break in Sly and the Family Stone's "Sing a Simple Song". A delicate electric piano intro underscores Morissette's vocals, which begin by asking, "How bout getting off these antibiotics?" The rest of the song continues with Morissette posing similar provocative questions -- "How bout remembering your divinity?"—and her thanking the circumstances—terror, disillusionment, and consequence, among others—that helped her achieve personal growth. The lyrics document Morissette's spiritual awakenings following her trip to India, as well as other physical and internal journeys. In "Thank U", Alanis expresses the heartfelt gratitude, inspiration, and compassion that she felt at the time she wrote it. According to Jon Pareles of The New York Times, the song has "verses of self-help," such as, "How 'bout no longer being masochistic?, how 'bout remembering your divinity?, how 'bout unabashedly bawling your eyes out?." Liana Jones of Allmusic noticed that "There aren't many artists, let alone everyday people, who acknowledge and pay tribute to life's lessons." Critical reception Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic picked the song as a highlight from the album, writing that "the textured production functions as a backdrop for Morissette's cryptically introspective lyrics." Liana Jones also of Allmusic wrote that the song's lyrics are "a real boon for contemporary rock music, which tends to be simplistic and hackneyed in its themes." Larry Flick of Billboard praised the singer's performance, acknowledging her "zen-like confidence", calling it "an instantly memorable single that will saturate radio airwaves at all possible formats within a split-second." Daily Record noted that Morissette "returns to angst-ridden form". Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly wrote that the song's structure "creates an immediate catchiness, underpinned and emphasized by Gary Novak's hypnotic drum pattern." Tucker also called 'Thank U,' "a terrific single, with its positive sentiments tucked inside a crystalline melody like a message in a bottle." NME praised the "pleasant, lilting Liz Cocteau-on-a-broomstick style frame." Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone wrote that the song "could've been a pretentious disaster, but instead it's a pretentious stroke of brilliance – she finds something shockingly smart to say about her spiritual crises, riding an indelible Eighties AOR synth hook and wailing like Robert Plant stealing 'Kashmir' back from Jimmy Page and 'Puffy'. Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine called the "soft-rock synth hook" and "the bundle of Morissette's signature list-y lyrics," "anything but ordinary." Chart performance "Thank U"