However, Nicholas Hautman of Us Weekly criticized the song's lyrics for being clichГ©, specifically noting that it is 'about crying so much that you literally run out of the electrolytes needed to form tears'. Shaoni Das of Music Talkers stated that the song is an 'exhilarating dance number, awash in pools of glitter, glamour, and confidence'. Writing for Stereogum, Chris DeVille wrote that 'Salt' is the best song out of Max's discography despite sounding similar to Lady Gaga. Rania Aniftos of Billboard described the song as an 'upbeat, sassy track about having fun after a sad spell', while Madeline Roth of MTV News called it 'dance-pop blissfulness'. Several publications have regarded 'Salt' to be a 'fan-favorite' since its 2018 release.

The song's lyrics describes the carefree nature of not crying over an ex. A violin is heard in the introduction, while Wonder Woman and Marilyn Monroe are lyrically mentioned throughout the song, due to their icon status in femininity. It contains 'pumping disco beats from the seventies and eighties' blended with Max's 'vocal inflexions'. 'Salt' is a dance-pop song, with elements of disco. It was written by Max, Autumn Rowe, Madison Love, Nicole Morier, and the producer Cirkut. She acknowledged that the song's re-release was due to its high streaming numbers, despite containing no prior marketing or promotion. On December 5, 2019, Max revealed the release date on social media, which was subsequently re-released as a single on several streaming services on December 12, 2019. 'Salt' was initially released on YouTube and SoundCloud in 2018, where it gained 4 million views on the former by December 2019.

Salt by ava max