Composition and lyrics "Heavy in Your Arms" is a gothic rock ballad, that draws influences from hip hop and gospel music. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by EMI Music Publishing, it's written in the key of A minor with a moderate tempo of 80 beats per minute, while Welch's vocals span a range of F3 to C5. Its instrumentation consists of synthesizers, drums and piano; featuring gospel choirs, with an emphasis on a "heavy drum beat[,] a deep bass and piano riff". Lyrically, the song is a "more unconventional and darker tone for the band" in comparison to their previous singles, which some critics classified as "haunting". Welch declared on her website about the inspiration for the song: 'Heavy in Your Arms' I suppose is about the weight of love, and how sometimes it can be a burden between two people. I felt this was a strong theme in the Twilight series—is someone being rescued or are they being condemned, and is the love you carry bringing you down? I recorded it with Paul one evening, using a lot of strange reversed vocal samples and big hip hop piano. It's basically inspired by 90's hip hop, and gospel choirs, like most of my songs. Mayer Nissim from Digital Spy, said the song "combines the chills of a classic horror flick with the intensity of a tragic romance collapsing in on itself like a swirling black hole." The track starts with synthesizers where Welch speaks rhythmically, "whispering dark" lyrics such as "He took me took me to the river / Where he slowly let me drown". Welch's vocals were classified as "dramatic" and "ear-shattering" when singing the chorus of the song, being accompanied by backing drums. "Heavy in Your Arms" finds Welch singing about the burden a person is to a beloved one: "My love has concrete feet / My love’s an iron ball / Wrapped around your ankles / Over the waterfall." She concludes before the outro with "When he held me in his arms / My feet never touched the ground" as a "concluding note". Critical reception "Heavy in Your Arms" received widespread critical acclaim. Nima Baniamer of Contactmusic.com gave the song five stars writing, "With lingering vocals and an eerie melody, this track goes beyond the supernatural to create something purely magical. Halloween may have just passed us by, but prepare to get goosebumps by