It was included on Williams's debut solo album, Life thru a Lens (1997), and released as a single on 1 December 1997 by Chrysalis.

It was recorded in Spanish (as "Ángel") by the Mexican singers Yuridia and Marco Moré, in Italian (as "Un Angelo") by Patrizio Buanne and in Brazilian Portuguese (as "Um Anjo") by KLB.

He noted that the production is "first-rate, the lyric is thoughtful and ear-grabbing, and his smoky, crisp vocal is a sheer delight.

"[12] An editor for Daily Record felt Williams had "come of age with this melodic pop ballad"[13] and complimented a "surprisingly grown-up sounding Robbie on what is his best tune to date".

[15] Music & Media wrote: "With songs of the quality of 'Angels', Robbie Williams is on his way towards extending his audience by drawing in older listeners ... [It] distinguishes itself from its indie rock-inspired predecessors 'Old Before I Die' and 'Lazy Days' by exchanging their guitars for a more mellow, piano-based arrangement.

"[16] Music Week gave "Angels" four out of five, likening it to Elton John and saying it suggested that Williams would be more successful than his former Take That bandmate Gary Barlow.

[17][18] The Pitchfork writer Michael Sandlin called the song a "pink feather-boa'd Elton John mishap" with a guitar imitating George Harrison.

[19] In 2017, Dave Fawbert from ShortList declared "Angels" "genuinely brilliant", with "a pretty understated vocal from Robbie.

"[20] The Guardian wrote in 2022 that "Angels" was "so ubiquitous for so long that it is almost impossible for anyone of a certain age to listen to it objectively: throughout the late 90s and 00s, it wasn't so much a song as an unavoidable fact of daily life.

[23] In a 2005 survey by UK digital TV station Music Choice, Britons chose it as the song they would most like played at their funeral.

Filmed largely from the air, Williams walks around a beach, stares at the sky, kicks a football and rides a motorbike with a woman while a helicopter flies around them.

On 14 June 2018, Williams performed "Angels" with the Russian soprano Aida Garifullina at the 2018 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony held at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia.

As the song progresses, however, white roses can be seen scattered around her as a sign of hope, and soon Simpson begins to regain her confidence.

The song then shifts into its instrumental bridge to correlate with the emotions of the characters, as Simpson proceeds to climb to the top of the building for her final performance.

However, the song did become a moderate success[clarification needed] on the Top 40 Mainstream and Hot Digital Tracks charts.

A studio version of this cover was produced and made available for purchase as a digital download exclusively via iTunes Store for a limited period.

On 14 November 2020, Chitapa performed the song "Angels" live on The Voice UK grand final, with the single being released after the show was finished as a digital download.

In June 2021, an artist collective named Kindred Spirit that included Glen Matlock, Steve Norman, Marcella Detroit, Earl Slick among others, released a cover version of the song titled "Angels (Of the Nations)" to both commemorate music producer Steve Brown who died in 2021 and raise money to offer angel sculptures as gifts to the families of UK doctors who died of Covid whilst working for the British NHS.