Todd Martens of Los Angeles Times wrote that the song "feels a little like two songs smashed into one", one "underscored by slow-rising synths that add heft to the generally fierce intensity of Lamar" and the other "keeps Keys relatively restrained, as her voice sticks close to a warm beat", prising Pharrell and Zimmer production.

[3] On March 12, 2014, Columbia Records issued a press release announcing that "It's On Again" would be included on the soundtrack for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) and serve as the closing song for the film.

[4] The release included a statement from director Marc Webb, who described the process of selecting "a song that would be upbeat and exciting, but also contain a note of foreboding" to serve as the film's closing theme and praised "It's On Again" as the "perfect end note.

[4] On March 31, "It's On Again" was uploaded to Keys' official SoundCloud page[5] and impacted mainstream urban radio in the United States.

[7] The songs was performed for the first time on television on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.