Despite intense publicity in the wake of Smith's relationship with Bill Wyman, the song charted poorly in the UK — a result the producers blamed on the hostility of the British media.

While "I Just Can't Wait" missed the top 40 in her home country, the track's Balearic beat version, the "Cool and Breezy Jazz Mix", was critically well received, and has been called "one of the coolest records SAW ever made".

[1] Smash Hits Australia slated the song as "awful [and] mildly suggestive", though songwriter Mike Stock denied that the title was a reference to the scandal surrounding Smith's underage relationship with Wyman.

[1] In 2023, Alexis Petridis of The Guardian listed the Cool and Breezy Jazz Version at number 15 in his "Stock Aitken Waterman's 20 greatest songs – ranked!

", adding: "It expunges almost all of Smith's vocal in favour of an acoustic guitar solo, and sounds suitably sun-drenched and blissful".