It was written by Static Major and Timbaland, with the latter producing it, in addition to performing a guest rap.

Lyrically, it is about the narrator (Aaliyah) keeping an intimate relationship a secret due to her celebrity status.

It is a dance-heavy video that depicts Aaliyah and other dancers all dancing in a cave before a backdrop that features clips of the Dr. Dolittle motion picture.

Throughout the years, critics have praised the video for its choreography, with many highlighting the flamenco routine depicted in the final scene.

[9] Journalist Larry Flick from Billboard, felt that Aaliyah had returned to her funk/hip hop roots on the record.

[12] Flick described the guitar riff as, "jiggly", and thought that it gives "the track the feel good vibe of a '70s-era throw down".

[14] She also has a "no-nonsense delivery" and sings the opening line 'boy', "like she's creating a perfectly round bubble of sound, drawing out the vowel and vibrating it.

"[20] Huff also noted, there's also a sense of longing in the appearance of the song's title ("'Cause I really need somebody / Tell me are you that somebody") and in the way Aaliyah performed it, stretching out the syllables to the point of desperation and then keeping up with the beat with "hurried, jumbled phrasings".

perfectly captured multiple traits found on Aaliyah's first two albums, Age Ain't Nothing but a Number (1994) and One in a Million (1996).

Her first two albums carefully toed the line between adolescence and adulthood, displaying a woman exploring the terrain of love, trust, and lust; one who exuded a playful innocence while hinting at a more sultry side.

[22] The Gavin Report labeled the song as a "booty-movin' jam" and wrote that,"the angel-voiced Aaliyah lays down the law to a potential lover".

[23] Music Week described the songs production as "syncopated" and "jerky", ultimately they felt that it "showcases Aaliyah's deceptively simple R&B vocal.

He continued praising the song by saying: "It's a fantastic track, with a stomping rhythm alternatingly accented by the strangest bundle of noise.

It sounds like someone shaking dice or cracking their knuckles or twisting a Rubik's Cube really fast -- I can never decide which".

[26][27] In a retrospective review, Billboard felt that "The goofy AF 1998 Eddie Murphy remake of the 1967 box office bomb Dr. Dolittle did not deserve one of the absolute greatest R&B jams of the '90s".

wasn't released commercially to retail stores in the United States, therefore the song's chart success depended solely on radio airplay.

[65] Williams, however, pulled out of the project due to other commitments, and Mark Gerard jumped on board.

[68] The video begins with Timbaland and a crew of men riding motorcycles to a cave where Aaliyah and other women are waiting in.

As Aaliyah's first verse starts, she holds a large bird on her arm and everyone begins to perform the choreography.

In the video Aaliyah wore a Gucci bathing suit according to her former stylist Derek Lee.

[69] In an interview with Nylon, Lee further explained that the bathing suit was embedded with hand done blood-red Swarovski crystals.

[70] Lee wanted her final look for the big dance scene to have a push in terms of her style.

thought, "One of the sexiest sequences in this clip comes at the end when Aaliyah dons a skirt with high slits on both sides and heels and dances the flamenco, which was something her choreographer came up with".

[68] BET said that "Fatima Robinson got behind the scenes for this video and managed to work in the energetic Flamenco dance with Aaliyah's laid-back hip hop moves, perfectly complementing Timbaland's production.

"[77] Nylon writer Steffanee Wang praised the video as she felt that "Aaliyah's dancing — fluid and sensual — takes center stage in this futuristic visual that remains one of the best and concise displays of her sheer talent and magnitude.

[79] Kelefah Sanneh of The New York Times wrote that the twitchy, beat-driven songs of Destiny's Child owe a clear debt to 'Are You That Somebody'.

[81] Adam Levine, the lead vocalist of the pop rock group Maroon 5, remembers that listening to "Are You That Somebody?"

In 2009, Canadian rapper Drake interpolated a portion of the song's chorus in his verse on Young Money Entertainment's "BedRock": "Girl I gotta watch my back, 'cause I'm not just anybody.

[86] In 2014, singer Banks performed an acoustic version of this song on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge.

[87] In 2018, American a cappella group Pentatonix recorded the song as a medley combined with "New Rules" by Dua Lipa for their album PTX Presents: Top Pop, Vol.