It was released by Lava and Republic Records on 28 July 2014 as the lead single from Jessie J's third studio album, Sweet Talker (2014).

The song reached the top ten in multiple other countries including Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Israel, Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland, and South Korea.

The song received universal acclaim for Jessie's and Grande's vocal performance, its production, and Minaj's verse.

The song's music video was directed by Hannah Lux Davis and released on 24 August 2014, and has over 2 billion views on YouTube as of July 2024.

The song was written by Savan Kotecha, Ariana Grande, Max Martin, and Carolina Liar guitarist Rickard Göransson, while the latter two co-produced it with Ilya Salmanzadeh.

[5] Jessie later said that "It was like a real females, coming together, empowering, supportive [vibe], and then Nicki jumping on it was like the icing on the cake.

Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone called the song a "perfect Max Martin throwdown" that "fuses Nelly's 'Country Grammar' with Wham!

[18] Jason Lipshutz from Billboard responded positively to the song, saying that the song itself "[is] composed of piercing vocals courtesy of two contemporary crooners, as well as rapid-fire spitting from the hottest female MC on the planet, "Bang Bang" rests tidily upon the Jessie J assertion, "See anybody could be good to you/You need a bad girl to blow your mind.

"[21] Lewis Corner from Digital Spy gave the song four and a half stars out of five and said that is "one of the year's most electrifying pop anthems.

[30] The song marked Jessie J's second, Grande's third, and Minaj's milestone tenth top ten single in the United States.

It became Jessie J's and Grande's first and Minaj's second song to be certified diamond, and the first all-female collaboration in history to achieve the milestone.

It additionally became Grande's second-highest peak at the time following "Problem" which topped the chart earlier in the year, while becoming Minaj's third number-two hit there after her collaborations with Justin Bieber on "Beauty and a Beat" and David Guetta on "Turn Me On".

It also peaked at number one on the Urban Singles Chart and was certified triple platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments of over 210,000 copies.

Internationally, the song has also peaked within the top ten of the charts in Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Israel, Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland, and South Korea.

The song's accompanying video was shot over two days in Los Angeles, California, and was directed by Hannah Lux Davis.

Grande also performed the song with Minaj at the NBA All-Star Game halftime show on 15 February 2015,[39] as well as at the iHeartRadio Music Festival.