"Paper Bag" has been described as a cabaret inspired song with baroque elements.[4][5] Apple wrote the song following an experience in which she mistook a plastic bag for a dove. The event took place in Los Angeles following recording sessions for her previous studio album, Tidal (1996); Apple, reportedly upset at the time, was a passenger in a car being driven by her father.[6] Apple's lyrics are what she calls "extensions of her journal", many of which draw experiences from a rape and subsequent mental health problems, including disordered eating, obsessive–compulsive disorder, and complex post-traumatic stress disorder.[7][8][9] The lyrics in "Paper Bag" are about minimizing different types of pain, something that is reflective of the feminine experience, and resonated with girls and women in online conversations associated heavily with trauma and eating disorders, particularly anorexia nervosa, a different disorder than Apple's own. "Hunger hurts, but starving works" became a common, relatable slogan in disordered eating communities.[10][11][12]
AllMusic's Matthew Greenwald described "Paper Bag" as having a "loose, almost ragtime" melody and rhythm pattern, with an "up and down" chord pattern creating a "funky, looping feel".[3]The Record noted the "infectious" song includes "Beatlesesque horns".[13]The Boston Globe classified it as a "piano ditty" that "owes equally to Kurt Weill and Paul McCartney,"[14] while The Buffalo News noted that it "provides a more contemporary hip hop sound" than other songs on her album.[15]
Matthew Greenwald of AllMusic wrote that "Paper Bag" was one of the more accessible, "inspiring" tracks from the album. Greenwald appreciated Don Sweeney's horn arrangement, which he called "joyous".[3] In 2012, Bob Gendron of the Chicago Tribune opined, "A midst a backdrop of gently brushed drums, 'Paper Bag' highlighted an ugly tempestuousness at odds with its breezy cabaret melody."[22] In the "Rolling Stone Special Nineties Edition," the song was ranked as the 29th.[23] Rolling Stone Magazine ranked it as the 382nd greatest song of all time in 2021.[23]
^Violanti, Anthony (November 19, 1999). "Discs". The Buffalo News. Stanford Lipsey. Archived from the original on March 28, 2016. Retrieved February 1, 2013. (subscription required)
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