Grande included "Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" on the setlist of the Sweetener World Tour and performed the song with NSYNC on the first show at the 2019 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

[7] Musically, "Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" is a pop-R&B[8] and trap-pop song,[9] which includes Grande's "semi-rapped, disenfranchised" vocals placed over a "booming" bass,[10] and is accompanied by a "subterranean click beat".

[11] "Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" contains an interpolation of the NSYNC song "It Makes Me Ill" from their third studio album No Strings Attached (2000),[12] which is heard in the bridge.

[14] "Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" was written by Grande, Max Martin, Ilya Salmanzadeh, Savan Kotecha, and the songwriters of "It Makes Me Ill", Kandi Burruss and Kevin Briggs.

[16][17] Rolling Stone writer Rob Sheffield praised "Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" for being "the perfect way to end Thank U, Next and compared it to the Britney Spears song "Get Naked (I Got a Plan)".

[19] The Irish Times writer Ed Powers opined that it is "a sultry exorcism" where Grande searched for "merciful oblivion in the arms of a forbidden lover".

[21] However, Wren Graves of Consequence of Sound believed that the placement of "Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" on Thank U, Next as the final track gave the album "a sour aftertaste".

[24] In the United States, "Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" debuted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 behind Grande's "7 Rings", which was her 13th top 10 song on the chart.

[30] The song debuted at its number two peak behind "7 Rings" on the Canadian Hot 100 chart dated February 23, 2019,[31] and was certified quadruple platinum by Music Canada (MC) on April 16, 2021, for 320,000 track-equivalent sales in the country.

[44][52] Billboard staff considered the music video to be "sexy and stylish",[42] while Tallie Spencer of Spin opined that it "complements the song's sassy tone".

[50] Writing for MTV News, Madeline Roth considered it to be "trippy" and compared the scene where Grande changes her appearance to the film Single White Female (1992),[46] while Elle writer Alyssa Bailey noted that the music video is portrayed as "a good CW drama".

[44][48][53] Grande debuted the live performance of "Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" on the Sweetener World Tour on March 19, 2019, where it was the fourth song included on the setlist in Albany, New York.

[55] During the first show on April 14, 2019, Grande paused midway through the song to introduce NSYNC members JC Chasez, Chris Kirkpatrick, Joey Fatone, and Lance Bass on stage to sing "It Makes Me Ill" with "intense choreography".

[56][60][61] American singer Lana Del Rey performed a cover version of "Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" during her BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge appearance on September 9, 2019,[62] which was approved by Grande on Twitter.