of The New York Times called "Accelerate" "fantastically weird", stating, "Ty Dolla Sign's moans and yelps, sinuous keyboard lines, a charmingly staccato verse from 2 Chainz. Somewhere in there is Ms. Aguilera, under-singing and trying not to get pushed into a corner. And yet despite these disparate inputs, there's something loose and admirable happening here: everyone is trying new things, and the disarray verges on flamboyance." According to MTV's Sam Prance, "Accelerate" is one of Aguilera's "most experimental releases to date," as well as "an instantly memorable pulsating club bop." Billboard called the single "a stormy comeback" with high energy, while The Guardian regarded it as catchy and a "promising comeback", noting Aguilera's "incredible" vocals. The Fader praised Aguilera for "brave artistic choice" and assured that upon listening deeper into the song, its weirdest and most interesting sounds become "addictive". Brock Radke of Las Vegas Magazine believed "Accelerate" is a "pulsating, rhythmic track" that "defies categorization and reaffirms Aguilera’s dedication to pushing past pop boundaries". Sheldon Pearce of Pitchfork said it is "certainly a liberation from something, though it's unclear what. There's a fun song trapped in here somewhere, between several mutations, but without any sort of constancy or meaningful direction, it isn't much of a song at all; it's a series of disjointed episodes with superfluous parts. 'Accelerate' is unnecessarily mixing and inflating ideas when far less would do." Hugh McIntyre, a contributor to Forbes.com, was critical of the song, saying "'Accelerate' sounds like it's headed somewhere, but it never actually arrives. The track is disappointingly one-note, and once you've heard what it has to give in the first few seconds, there isn't a lot more to discover. The drum-heavy production immediately catches the ear, but it never develops and grows, and there's no powerful hook that requires a replay".
Chart performance
In the United States, the song peaked at number twenty-four on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles. Elsewhere, the song had minor chart success, reaching the top ten in Spain. In the United Kingdom and Canada, the song charted on the digital sales component charts in each country, although in the UK it also reached number 99 on the biggest singles of midweek list compiled by the Official Charts Company. "Accelerate" became Aguilera's tenth number-one song on the US Billboard Dance Club Songs chart. It also peaked at number thirteen on the German Black Chart.
Music video
An accompanying music video for "Accelerate", directed by Zoey Grossman, premiered via Aguilera's YouTube channel on May 3, 2018. Ty Dolla Sign and 2 Chainz do not appear in the video. Additionally, a vertical video for the song was released exclusively via Spotify on the same day.
Live performances
On May 31, 2018 Pandora Radio hosted a listening party as a preview for a then-upcoming album Liberation. Aguilera sang parts of "Accelerate" during the meeting with journalists. On June 9 she performed the track, along with "Fall in Line", at the Genentech Gives Back benefit concert in San Francisco.
