Darren Craig, Jonathan Craven and Jeff Nicholas of the Uprising Creative directed the music video for "American Oxygen", which premiered exclusively on Tidal on April 6.

Rihanna performed "American Oxygen" for the first time at the Final Four of the 2015 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament in Indianapolis.

"[1] Harris explained how he and Alex da Kid wanted the chorus of the song to say a lot, even with a very small amount of lyrics in it.

This country is great and has the potential to be something really, really incredible, but there are a lot of problems that we don't acknowledge and it's important to shed light on both those things.

"[1] He also told the publication that they have their own version of "American Oxygen" too, however, according to him it means much more to be sung by Rihanna because she is a black female immigrant in the United States, "That is so powerful for a young kid to see her singing that song, it gets me choked up just thinking about it.

[3] Later, the song was made available for streaming on April 5, 2015, via Tidal, a service co-owned by Rihanna together with other music artists including, Jay Z, Beyoncé and Madonna.

[9] According to Jim Farber of New York Daily News, it features a "deeply resonant production" accompanied by EDM-inspired beats.

[13] Farber compared the lyrical content of the song to the one of the 2009 single "Empire State of Mind" by Jay Z and Alicia Keys.

"[9] According to Jake Flanagin of Quartz, the song is autobiographical to Rihanna and describes her move to the United States in late 2003, when record producer Evan Rogers discovered her in Barbados.

[13] VH1's Alexa Tietjen wrote that "American Oxygen" is similar to a presidential speech and "portrays a hurtful past while fostering hope for the future".

Le Donne wrote "So why is Rihanna, arguable queen of the club jam, putting out such a heavy single when she could have released another party banger?"

The music video for "American Oxygen" was directed by Darren Craig, Jonathan Craven and Jeff Nicholas of the Uprising Creative.

[13] In a review of the video, Alex Ungerman of Entertainment Tonight felt that the repetition of the word "breathe" is a very serious symbol and an important message linked to the death of Eric Garner.

[26] According to a writer of Capital FM, the video shows the patriotic side of Rihanna and the struggle experienced by the black people in the country and their success.

[29] Steven Gottlieb of Videostatic wrote that the video is, "is probably a bit more political than you might expect, utilizing a mix of news footage that runs the gamut from tragedy to transcendence.

"[30] Daniel Kreps of Rolling Stone described the visual as, a quasi-time capsule feel, juxtaposing patriotic imagery with archival footage of the United States' most noteworthy historical events.

[27] Time's Nolan Feeney thought that some of the presented historical moments "challenges readings of the song as a pure ode to the land of opportunity".

"[13] Adam Fleischer of MTV News noted that "those clips span decades, relate to numerous situations and evoke an array of emotions", and eventually agreed with Feeney.

[28] Michelle Geslani of Consequence of Sound wrote, "It's a gripping visual that seems to pose the question: How far are we willing to go to protect this so-called Land of Opportunity?

[33] On April 4, 2015, Rihanna performed at the Final Four of the 2015 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, which was held in Indianapolis, Indiana.