"Miss Independent" is a R&B-styled pop song, whose lyrics tell of a story of a confident woman who finally allows herself to lower her emotional and communication barriers in order to fall in love.

The song's commercial success helped in presenting Clarkson's "girl next door" image to the public and contributed in eliminating her American Idol persona.

The song's accompanying music video was directed by Liz Friedlander, and featured Clarkson singing at a house party.

Clarkson premiered the song during the second season of American Idol, and has included it in set lists in most of her concert tours.

Most of the singles contained Clarkson's renditions of the songs "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", which was included on Thankful, and "Respect".

"[14] Rachell Kipp of the Associated Press wrote that "Miss Independent" "sounds like a half-baked remake of Aguilera's 'Dirrty' (2002)"[15] The song has a length of three minutes and 35 seconds and is written in the key of B minor, Clarkson's vocal range spans from F♯3 to F♯5.

[16] The lyrics tells the story of an independent woman who was apprehensive about being in a relationship in fears of being rejected, she finally allows herself to break her emotional and communication barriers when she begins to fall in love.

Upon its release, Brian Hiatt of Entertainment Weekly noted that "its hard R&B sound may shock fans who embraced the mellow 'A Moment Like This'.

'Miss Independent' begins with Clarkson singing in a throaty moan over a bangin' hip-hop beat, then bursts into a power-chord-propelled, disco-diva chorus that's not unlike Britney Spears' 'Stronger'".

[18] Rolling Stone wrote, "'A Moment Like This' was exactly the sort of treacly by-the-numbers ballad critics expected of a TV-contest winner; that's probably why its assertive follow-up, 'Miss Independent', was such a surprise".

[19] AllMusic's senior editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that it "managed to make Kelly Clarkson seem younger and hipper without slutting her up like Christina Aguilera (who, ironically, co-wrote 'Miss Independent' the first single from Thankful) while retaining a strong sense of melodic songcraft".

[21] On March 5, 2013, Billboard ranked the song number sixteen in its list of "Top 100 American Idol Hits of All Time".

[22] Howard Cohen of The Baltimore Sun wrote, "The R&B-styled stomper 'Miss Independent', sounds like the fat removed from Aguilera's meatier 'Fighter' – which could well be the case, since she co-wrote both tunes".

[23] The song received a nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 2004 Grammy Awards, but lost out to Aguilera's "Beautiful".

The song's accompanying music video was filmed in Los Angeles by Liz Friedlander, who didn't know Clarkson at the time.

"[17] The video features Clarkson performing at a house party in reverse, starting from the morning after and working its way back to the previous night, where she appears attracted to a "surfer" whom she keeps seeing in mirrors.

[39] In 2012, she performed a medley of her songs at the 40th Anniversary American Music Awards, beginning with "Miss Independent", continuing to "Since U Been Gone", "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)", and "Catch My Breath".