Lewis Corner of Digital Spy gave the song a mixed review, stating that:
"While their influences clearly nod towards pop-punk godfathers Green Day and Blink-182, 5SOS's official debut 'She Looks So Perfect' is strewn with teen heartthrob clichés. "We worked too damn hard for this just to give it up now," Luke tells his flame over a plucky electric guitar, before the song bursts into a lofty chorus and further promises of diamond rings and plane tickets. It's the age-old tale of a forbidden romantic runaway; trouble is, with this anthem poised to scale the chart, slipping away unnoticed will soon prove slightly more difficult.
The Wire wrote that the song sounds as if it were purposely crafted as power pop to appeal to fans of a boy band, but an "infinitesimally edgier" boy band than One Direction. Billboard called the song "school rock" and described it as a "slick crowd pleaser" performed live for the 2014 Billboard Music Awards show.
Chart performance
On 1 March 2014, "She Looks So Perfect" debuted at number three on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, being kept off the top spot by Clean Bandit's "Rather Be" and Pharrell Williams' "Happy". The song finally reached number one on its fifth week on the chart, as well as being certified Platinum for sales of 70,000 copies. Likewise, it debuted at number four on the New Zealand Singles Chart and in its fifth week, the song jumped from number nine to number one. The week after, it was certified Gold. "She Looks So Perfect" debuted at number one on the Irish Singles Chart on 27 March 2014. On 30 March, it debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart with about 94,000 copies sold in first week. It was the fourth UK number one single by a band from Australia and the first since Madison Avenue's "Don't Call Me Baby", topped the chart in May 2000. In its second week, "She Look So Perfect" dropped to tenth place, which is the biggest drop from the top spot since McFly's double single "Baby's Come Back"/"Transylvania", who tie this record with Elvis Presley's re-release "One Night"/"I Got Stung" from 2005 and dropped from number one to number 20 in April 2007. "She Looks So Perfect" entered on the US Billboard Hot 100 on 12 April 2014. On 24 May 2014, six weeks after their debut, "She Looks So Perfect" reached number 37. A week later, the track reached its peak position at number 32, becoming the band's first top 40 single. As of December 2014, the single has sold 925,000 copies in the US.
Music video
The official music video was directed by Frank Borin. It was released to YouTube on 24 February 2014. It features the band singing, while men and women start dancing and removing clothing at stores and classrooms. As of August 2017, the video has logged 210 million views on YouTube.
Extended play
An extended play was released and the version for streaming contains five tracks: "She Looks So Perfect", "Heartache on the Big Screen", "The Only Reason", "What I Like About You", and "Disconnected".
B-side
A B-side was released in 2016 which contains nine tracks: three "She Looks So Perfect" versions, "Heartache on the Big Screen", "The Only Reason", "Disconnected", "Wherever You Are", "500 Years of Winter - Pizza Song", and "What I Like About You ".
