Critical reception[edit]
Country music blog Taste of Country reviewed the song positively, complimenting the anthemic nature of the song as well as its "big", "vivid" sound.[1] In a starred review for Digital Journal, Markos Papadatos praised the trio for trying something new and noted the singles is "good regardless" of their shift in genre; he rated the song four stars out of five.[5] Grady Smith of The Guardian was more critical, writing that the song "pushes the band away from the hearty style that made them great in the first place," and insisting that "Live Forever" is "not a country song – it's a bad pop song."[6]