love song, it's about being obsessed with someone to the extreme. And sometimes when things go bad you do go like that, you stalk them on Facebook ..." Nelson said the group play a character in the song and portray themselves to be darker than they are. Edwards said that when stripped of its scientific words, "DNA" is just a love song about "when a girl first gets with a boy, that kind of romance makes you feel really giddy and happy". Release Details about "DNA" emerged after music industry insiders previewed it at a conference held by Sony Music Entertainment on 11 September 2012. Little Mix shared the single's cover art on Twitter on 30 September 2012. On 1 October 2012, a lyric video was posted on Vevo and the song had its radio premiere on Nick Grimshaw's The Radio 1 Breakfast Show. A digital extended play (EP) was made available to pre-order from the iTunes Store the same day. It was released in Ireland on 9 November 2012 and then in the UK two days later. To promote the release, Little Mix held a YouTube competition in which fans shared dance routines for the song. Three entrants won tickets to the group's DNA Tour, a copy of their book Ready to Fly, a copy of the album and a dance tutorial in London with the group's choreographer. A two-track CD single was made available exclusively from music retail chain HMV on 19 November 2012. An acoustic version of "DNA" is included in the deluxe edition of the album. Critical reception "DNA" received generally positive reviews from music critics upon release. Lewis Corner of Digital Spy wrote, "Spooky synths, pumping heartbeats and a gothic choir finale make this pop perfection". In his review for the same website, Robert Copsey gave the track four stars out of five and said, "the epic, operatic middle eight is a pop moment this time they can claim entirely as their own". DIY magazine's Laurence Green called it a "great pop tune by any mark" that "sounds quite a bit like a Girls Aloud song" and "a sign of just how embedded Girls Aloud have become in the fabric of contemporary British pop". Mark Davison of No Ripcord rated the track eight out of ten, calling it "giddy, glitzy pop which would do Girls Aloud, or at least The Saturdays, proud", adding; "You'll know exactly what 'DNA' sounds like before you hear it, and that's no bad thing". In a review of the album DNA, AllMusic's Matt Collar cited the song among the "truly catchy, infectious cuts", while Malcolm Jack of The Guardian named it the album's best track, saying it "finally tests cautiously U-certificate boundaries". Another reviewer from The Guardian described the song as a "sprightly synth banger". In a less enthusiastic review, NMEs Eve Barlow said the track sounds exactly like "E.T." and from "Tulisa's school of 'ballid'". John Murphy of musicOMH commented, "It's woeful. It sounds dated, dull and auto-tuned to death. The chorus sounds like t.A.T.u, there's a completely pointless yet apparently now obligatory rap, and unlike 'Wings', which was instantly memorable, this isn't." Eoin Butler of The Irish Times gave the song two stars out of five writing, "'It's in his DNA, his DNA.' (Y'know, it's actually probably his haircut.)" Stuart Heritage wrote in The Guardian that it is "not a good song by anyone's standards". Digital Spy placed the track at number 19 in its 2012 year-end list. Michael Cragg and Kieran Yates included it in their 2012 year-end top-ten lists for The Guardian. In 2013, "DNA" was