Tell 'Em (Sleigh Bells song)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Rolling Stone	[10]

The song's style has been compared to that of singer M.I.A.

Since its release, the song has been hailed by music critics for its intense sound, with one noting its similarity to the songs of electronic singer M.I.A.[11] Lisa Wright, a writer from NME, lauded the song, declaring "not since Miss Arulpragasam herself has there been a track that makes violence sound so goddamn danceable."[11] Zach Baron of Village Voice praised the song's production, comparing it to "winning a video game shootout inside of a disco that's on neon fire."[12] Michael Saba of Paste also wrote highly of the song, calling it "a beast of a track—three minutes of the crunchy, glitched-out riffs and titanic hooks".[13] PopMatters' editor Arnold Pan, like other critics, commented on the song's intensity, writing, "You'll probably be too shellshocked by the anxiety-inducing and heart-palpitating thrills of the leadoff track 'Tell 'Em' to do anything else but take it all in, even if your eardrums tell you to turn off the racket."[7]

Ryan Dombal of Pitchfork commented positively on the song, stating that "nobody has made a guitar sound so hawkish since Jack White. Because it's got both the bone crunch of third and long and the pom-pom chants built in."[5] Rolling Stone's Eric Magnuson, impressed with the song's sound, referred to it as "a body-shaker that sounds like a choir girl showing up to a street fight with a howitzer and a holster full of lasers. Danceable lasers."[10] Matthew Cole of Slant Magazine described the song as "a call to the dance floor, mosh pit, or wherever it is that folks from your scene get down, it's undeniable."[8] In Sputnikmusic's review of the album, the song was described as "the perfect litmus test: buzzsaw guitars, frenetic bass, and Alexis Krauss' melodic, choir-girl vocal hooks make for something as initially uncomfortable as it is incredibly catchy."[14] Erik Adams of The A.V. Club stated "tracks like 'Tell 'Em' and 'Treats' trade on some of the last three decades of pop music's most noxious textures—harmonized, Joe Satriani-esque guitar heroics; dark stabs of synthesizers lifted from crunk and snap—but those sounds are transformed into undeniable hooks when filtered through Miller's songwriting smarts and laid under the deceptively sweet vocals of Alexis Krauss.[15]

Daily news site IndieWire placed the song at number forty on its list of The 50 Best Songs of 2010.[16] Matthew Cole of Slant Magazine deemed the song the best album opener of 2010.[8]

A part of the song is used as the theme of TRTÉ's show "The Rumour Room". It was also featured in a commercial for The X Games. Used as a theme song for Professional Wrestler Rob Van Dam