The song was written by group members Melanie Thornton and Lane McCray with Uli Brenner and Gerd Amir Saraf, who co-produced it with Frank Farian.

In Europe, it was a number-one hit in the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Romania, and Sweden, as well as on the Eurochart Hot 100.

"Be My Lover" earned La Bouche the 1996 Echo Music Prize in Germany in the category for Best Dance Single as well as the ASCAP Award in the US for the Most Played Song in America.

McCray told in a 2016 interview about how they came up with the name of the song, "We were at a gig in Germany, and in between sets she [Thornton] says to me, drying herself off with a towel, "So, how so you feel about mixing business with pleasure?"

"[4] La Bouche's Melanie Thornton and Lane McCray co-wrote the song with Uli Brenner and Gerd Amir Saraf.

"Be My Lover" was a top-10 hit in at least 16 countries, like Belgium (6), Brazil,[7] Denmark (9), France (7), Greece,[7] Ireland (8), Spain (6), and Switzerland (5).

La Bouche won the 1996 Echo Music Prize in Germany for Best Dance Single with "Be My Lover", and the ASCAP Award in the US for the Most Played Song in America.

[13] Gil L. Robertson IV from Cash Box named "Be My Lover" a "standout track" from Sweet Dreams.

"[16] Connie Johnson from Los Angeles Times wrote, "Sounding like a black ABBA crossed with the C+C Music Factory, Melanie Thornton and Lane McCray invest attitude into such tracks as 'Be My Lover', but you’d have to be a die-hard Euro-dance fan to appreciate it.

"[17] Chuck Campbell from Knoxville News Sentinel commented, "How does La Bouche's Top 10 hit [...] distinguish itself from the scores of other similar dance songs to be Flavor of the Month?

"[18] In his weekly UK chart commentary, James Masterton stated that it "could well turn out to be one of the pop smashes of the year.

"[19] Paul Mathur from Melody Maker wrote, "They do a kind of Snap mangué thing which deeply excites both me and Simon Price.

"[20] Another Melody Maker editor, Taylor Parkes, noted that "demand for "Be My Lover" from returning holidaymakers is so colossal that, by time you read this, it'll have cannoned deep into the UK charts."

"[21] A reviewer from Music Week gave "Be My Lover" three out of five, adding further that "this fairly standard piece of Europop is unlikely to top labelmates Real McCoy in the UK.

"[27] James Hamilton from the Record Mirror Dance Update described it as an "infectiously 'la de dah'-ed German smash by a Frankfurt based US duo in the usual Euro style".

The uncensored music video was later made available on La Bouche's official YouTube channel in 2016, and had generated more than 211 million views as of late 2024.

McCray, wearing a black leather coat and sunglasses, raps in the control room of the studio, watching Thornton.

Bianca Gracie declared it as a "blood-pumping" tune "that combined energetic waves of synths with incredibly soulful vocals that kept bodies moving way longer than those endless rounds of Sex On The Beach cocktails ever could!".

"[34] In 2016, James Arena, the writer of Stars of '90s Dance Pop: 29 Hitmakers Discuss Their Careers called the song "blistering", noting further that it, with "Sweet Dreams", "are widely regarded today as indispensable classics of the decade.

Matt Stopera and Brian Galindo stated that "when you think of a '90s dance artist or group, La Bouche is on that list.

It was also spoofed as "One Zero 001" on a computer-themed episode of Bill Nye the Science Guy and used in Audition Online Dance Battle as a song.