 Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly stated , " A genuine moment of vulnerability plays stunningly on the meticulously layered ' Cold Case Love ' " . Writing for GQ , Will Welch declared the song as a " sweeping , grandiose , almost ludicrously over @-@ stuffed and endless album closer " . He wrote that the song is " epic , evocative , on @-@ message ( eat shit , Chris Brown ) and just plain catchy " . Welch cited " Cold Case Love " as his favorite song on the album , while a reviewer for Rap @-@ Up declared it , alongside " Wait Your Turn " , " Hard " and " Rude Boy " , as their favorite song from the album . Writing for Complex magazine , out of 26 Rihanna songs , Claire Lobenfeld placed the song at number 24 and compared it to the material present on Timberlake 's 2006 studio album , FutureSex / LoveSounds . 
