Her simultaneous solo ventures include acting, appearing in the 2003 film Coffee and Cigarettes and a 2006 episode of The Simpsons, and briefly modeling.

White is a key artist of the 2000s garage rock revival, and her style of drumming has been called "minimalistic" and "simplistic" by critics.

[5][6] She worked at Memphis Smoke, a restaurant in downtown Royal Oak, where she met budding musician Jack Gillis, a fellow high school senior from a Detroit neighborhood known as Mexicantown.

[29] White Blood Cells would have a major label re-release with V2 Records in 2002, which brought them to the forefront of the garage rock revival and made them one of the most acclaimed bands of the year.

Chris Deville of Stereogum praised White for bashing "the bejesus out of her drums" and called the pair "too compelling for the rest of the world to ignore.

[35][36] AllMusic writers described White's drumming on Elephant as "hypnotic" and "explosively minimal", and Bram Teltelman of Billboard described it as "simple but effective".

[42] Tom Breihan of Stereogum described her voice as "magnetic",[43] and Andrew Katchen with Billboard wrote that she sounded "delicate and sweet".

[62][63] In an interview with Music Radar, Jack explained that Meg's acute anxiety had been due to the combination of a very short pre-tour rehearsal time—that was further reduced by the birth of his son—and a hectic, multi-continental touring schedule.

[65][66] On February 20, 2009—and on the final episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien—the band made their first, and what would be their last, live appearance after the cancellation of their tours, performing the song "We're Going to Be Friends".

[70][71][72] Directed by Emmett Malloy, the film documents the band's summer 2007 tour across Canada and contains live concert and off-stage footage.

[89][90] From their early years to Get Behind Me Satan, the resonant heads of the toms and bass drum almost exclusively featured peppermint swirls.

[95] She donated her last Ludwig kit to the 2009 Jim Shaw Rock 'N' Roll Benefit, an auction to raise money for the Detroit musician who was suffering from cancer.

[96][95] While recording From the Basement: The White Stripes, the design on the bass drum was switched to an image of her hand holding the apple from the Get Behind Me Satan cover.

[91][97] On the Icky Thump tour, the bass drum head design was switched to a button inspired by the Pearlies clothing Jack and Meg wore for the album cover.

Writers of Pitchfork in 2001 said that "Meg White's kit is bashed with such force you'd imagine her as some kind of incredible hulk [sic], though in photos, she appears the prototypical indie girl-- waifish, with pigtails and a nasty smirk.

"[18] In a 2002 The Washington Post article analyzing the band's style, writer Richard Harrington described White's drumming as "a surprisingly full sound, loud and raucous -- like the Carpenters on steroids".

[94] Of a 2002 concert in Cleveland, Ohio, Chuck Klosterman said, "[Meg] never grimaced and didn't appear to sweat; yet somehow her drums sounded like a herd of Clydesdales falling out of the sky, one after another.

[108] The satirical news site The Onion featured the 2007 headline "Meg White Drum Solo Maintains Steady Beat For 23 Minutes".

[109] In a review of their 2007 Madison Square Garden performance, a writer for Vulture said of her singing: "Oh, God, it was awful ... Meg, great as she looks onstage, is pure amateur hour".

[110] Tyler Golsen of Far Out simplified the debate of the time: "There is a strong misconception about Meg White's drumming: because it's simple, it's not very good.

For some reason, it's OK when drummers like Charlie Watts and Ringo Starr purposefully play songs without flash, but when White does it, she gets criticised and commented on for her lack of ability.

On the enduring discussion of White's drumming, Chris Willman of Variety magazine observed that "Years after she disappeared from the scene, either too shy or just too disinterested to continue a rock ‘n’ roll career, she seems to have been absorbed into rock orthodoxy as a great drummer by near-acclamation, and ironically stands as more of an icon than she ever did in her active years — although naysayers obviously persist.

Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters and previously Nirvana stated in an interview that White is "one of my favorite fucking drummers of all time.

"[115][116][117] Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine wrote in an Instagram post that White "has style and swag and personality and oomph and taste and awesomeness that's off the charts and a vibe that's untouchable".

[118][119][120] Nandi Bushell cited White as one of her influences, and said that "I saw Meg playing the drums and thought she was the coolest person in the world.

[126] In response to a tweet concerning the article on Twitter, journalist Lachlan Markay wrote "The tragedy of the White Stripes is how great they would've been with a half decent drummer.

[132] Erica Banas at WRAT called her "Rock's Favorite Recluse" in 2024, quipping that "No other drummer can rattle a rearview mirror quite like Meg White".

[133] Also in 2024, writers at Consequence of Sound concluded her "minimalistic style was the perfect counter to Jack's shredding, a primal dynamic that gave their tunes that definitive garage stomp.

[144] During the 2016 United States presidential election, White made a joint statement with Jack criticizing Donald Trump after "Seven Nation Army" appeared in his campaign without their consent.

[145] After the Trump campaign used the song again in the 2024 United States presidential election, she and Jack reunited to file a copyright infringement lawsuit in September 2024.