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Nortey Dowuona: Mabel slides over a post-garage beat and bakes in in her warm and expansive vocals, pulling a parachute of sweetly stirred synths behind her.
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Tim de Reuse: The whole song is a prism focusing in on that one-beat delay between “you’re that” and “bitch.” It’s a lovely centerpiece. The surrounding material has nothing even remotely as clever, focusing far too much on Mabel’s feathery, over-produced vocals and not enough on the competent house instrumental she’s stepping all over.
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Alfred Soto: This okay thumper and its okay lyrics and okay reading of queer tropes made me dance in an okay manner. Mission accomplished?
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Leah Isobel: On the one hand, this is cheap H&M pride float fodder. On the other hand, I will be in the club this weekend, three shots deep, screeching about a Mugler fit while wearing jean shorts and a t-shirt. I am vast; I contain multitudes.
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Michael Hong: Flashing camera lights and background squiggles, “Let Them Know” is a catwalk merged with a glitzy after-party. Those verses, strung together so lazily, still manage to make Mabel trip over her stride, but when she breaks into her strut on that chorus, well that there, that’s a hell of a reintroduction.
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Thomas Inskeep: According to a press release from her label, “Let Them Know” “was inspired by [Mabel] obsessively re-watching Paris Is Burning, Pose, and [RuPaul’s] Drag Race” during 2020’s global lockdowns — and I hear it. This is a (would be) diva anthem, with an opening verse talking about her nails, heels, cinched waist (in Mugler, no less), and a chorus which includes the couplets “stand and pose” and “you’re that bitch.” Musically it’s equal parts contempo pop-house — SG Lewis produced, and he co-wrote with MNEK, RAYE, and Mabel herself — and classic ’92, giving shades of CeCe Peniston and Crystal Waters. On first listen I wasn’t sure, thinking it might be a bit throwaway, but no, this has the goods. And good god this’ll sound like a million dollars on the dancefloor. 
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Scott Mildenhall: A Mabel song with allegations of personality is an improvement, especially when it’s so perky. Brief but bouncy, once upon a time they’d have called it handbag house, delivered by a set of clinically successful Italians — but of course, neither of those things would fly today. Oh.
[7]

Oliver Maier: Mabel has charisma, but not enough for this to be a winning manifesto. “Let Them Know” works better the further it leans into depersonalised house. As a pop song it’s rote and unconvincing.
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Andrew Karpan: I’ve been going back and forth on whether or not Future Nostalgia was the moment-defining UK pop album that Lipa’s fans think it was, but this record really makes the most convincing case I’ve heard so far. It’s interesting, however, that today’s version of disco revival comes with a kind of saucy assertiveness that didn’t feel entirely present in the Gaga-helmed one a decade ago. Mixing brain-fried capitalism with empowerment jamming makes more sense now than it ever did: he can be both “all about his business” and his name “ain’t none of your business,” as Mabel tells us. All well and good, but when the revolution comes, where will he hide?
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Wayne Weizhen Zhang: I am desperate to know anything about Mabel. It occurred to me halfway through writing about my fourth straight Mabel single — in which she repeatedly insists that she is “letting us know” — that I truly knew nothing about her. Not where she is from, nor what she looks like, and certainly nothing about her musical career outside of a nice voice and generic pop hits. (I realize this was problematic, especially while writing about a female pop star.) But on a quest to let myself know who the real Mabel was, I was genuinely baffled at how little she speaks for herself in the absence of her music speaking for her. There don’t seem to be any long-form profiles about her. YouTube is pretty scarce in terms of quality interviews. Up against the wall, I even watched the whole 30 minute Tik Tok Q&A where she promoted this single. The highlights? Her favorite food is pasta, her favorite snack is dry rice cakes, she’s terrified of pineapple pizza, her Starbucks order is basic (“There’s nothing wrong with being basic,” she assures), and both of her parents are musicians. Mabel recounted that the song itself was supposedly written on a rainy day to conjure up something “fabulous,” and the conceit is all about being unapologetic for being yourself. And again, I’m confused, because this fluffy cloud of meaningless words begs the question: who is the unapologetic Mabel and what does she stand for? “Let Them Know” is service house pop, but the lyrics read like an anonymous Mad Libs of #GirlBoss #Khaleesi #Wifey pop culture signifiers. I’m still waiting for them — and Mabel — to finally signify something. 
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