Jon O'Brien writing for AllMusic compared "Someone Wake Me Up" to having a combination of the refrain of "Love Story" by Taylor Swift and the backing track of "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry.[3] Darren Scott of Gay Times described it as a pop ballad unconventional to McElderry's norm, and noted similarities to Wham![4] Scott appreciated the song's catchy nature, as did David Griffiths of 4Music.[4][5]OK! also praised the song, calling it "an epic lighters-aloft stunner".[6]
The video for the song intersperses clips from the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, with recordings of McElderry performing inside The Dawn Treader, during which the boat is being flooded.[7][8] The video premiered on McElderry's YouTube channel on 27 November 2010, which was eventually taken down in 2011, along with his previous music videos, to be re-uploaded to Vevo.