at the end of the bridge) and is set in the time signature of common time with a moderate tempo of 95 beats per minute, while Spears' vocal range spans over an octave, from A3 to E5. "Lucky" has a basic sequence of D–Bm–G–A as its chord progression. David Veitch of the Calgary Sun and Chuck Taylor of Billboard compared the song's rhythm to the ones of Spears' previous singles "...Baby One More Time" (1998) and "Sometimes" (1999). Lyrically, Spears tells "a story about a girl named Lucky," who is a famous pop star that, despite having all that she wants, still feels lonely inside. Veitch also commented that the lyrics actually refer to Spears' life. Critical response "Lucky" received acclaim from music critics. A review by the NME staff explained that "Lucky" is "perhaps Britney's finest moment. The ultimate mallrat, bittersweet teenage symphony". They considered the song Spears' version of "Where Did It All Go Wrong?" by English rock band Oasis, and went to describe it as "a heart-rending tale of life at the top of the teen pop tree, transformed into an anthem for dramatic, moody 12-year-old girls everywhere by Max Martin's scary talent for teenybop lyrics". However, it was noted that some of the lyrics "sounds pretty heavy when you've just been dumped and Britney's Mickey Mouse Club-trained falsetto is reaching its peak". David Veitch of Calgary Sun called "Lucky" a "sweetly melodic mid-tempo song" and regarding the lyrics commented, "We feel her pain", Billboard magazine contributor Chuck Taylor praised "Lucky" and featured the song on the Spolight column of his Singles Review section. Taylor said that: "its contagious melody, bang-in-your-brain hook, the empathetic theme of a girl who's the world biggest superstar and yet feels all alone (hmm...) will make it an easy sell to top 40 radio and to her grand legion of dedicated fans". Rolling Stone called it "one of her most bubbly tunes, but the lyrics about a miserable starlet suggest that she identified with the dark side of fame very early on in her career". Gay Times Daniel Megarry felt that "the bittersweet 'Lucky', which almost feels autobiographical, remains the ultimate throwback for 90s kids". The staff from Entertainment Weekly placed it at number 10 on their ranking of Spears's songs and said that "given everything we know about Spears’ past decade, it's hard not to hear 'Lucky' as a haunting premonition