rock tones, it is an up-tempo song that lasts for four minutes and 32 seconds, and also has influences of techno. The track is composed in the key of E minor and is set in time signature of common time, with a tempo of 135 beats per minute. Perry's vocal range spans over an octave, from A3 to D5. Entertainment Weekly writer Leah Greenblatt stated that Perry's lyrical talent is not her strength, adding: "neither, in fact, is rhyming 'forte' with 'foreplay,' as she does painfully on the druggie-boyfriend takedown 'Circle the Drain'." Billboard journalist Monica Herrera found the song to have been inspired by Pat Benatar's material, while Perry herself said: "It's kind of like my 'You Oughta Know' Alanis Morissette moment." Al Fox of BBC News wrote that the song has "menacing undertones" which unveils a different side to Perry, unlike her current "unsolicited residency in many a showbiz column." Release and reception Capitol Records released "Circle the Drain" as a promotional single from Teenage Dream two weeks before the album's release on August 10. The song charted modestly and only remained on music charts for its debut week. The track's highest peak position was on the Canadian Hot 100, where it debuted at number 30; "Circle the Drain" became the biggest jump on that chart (28 places, from number 58) for the week ending on August 28. On the New Zealand Singles Chart, the song performed similarly, peaking at number 36 on August 23. Additionally, "Circle the Drain" managed to enter the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 58. Critical reaction to "Circle the Drain" was mixed. Keri Mason from Billboard believed that tracks like "Circle the Drain" made the Teenage Dream album "get heavier sonically and lyrically, with a boom-boom-pow electro punch". Slant Magazines Matthew Cole found the singer to be virtually less sympathetic than her former lover. This being because her "put-downs are alternately pedantic" and hypocritical even, as she finds offense to his substance use before foreplay, but was singing about blacking out and hooking up on another of the album's tracks – "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)". Chris Richards of The Washington Post had a similar reaction, finding it impossible to take any of the cautionary advice "Circle the Drain" offered, as Perry had just bragged about being very drunk on the very same record. MTV News reporter James Montgomery, said when discussing several