It features Young's "light vocals over a bed of pounding drums and twinkly synths". "Vibe" noted its "twinkly synths, romantic live strings, and vibrant house bass line". Ahrens refers to the song's "twinkly opening bars" as the "shimmer". "The Independent" described "Unplayed Piano" as "a twinkly and beautiful thing". Mother Teresa's Drama Department put on a production of "twinkly stars" in 2015.