Initially chosen as the album's second single, Aaliyah began promoting it with televised performances on Live with Regis and Kelly and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in July 2001.

After Aaliyah died in a plane crash on August 25, Blackground Records executives were initially uncertain about when they would issue the song's physical single and its accompanying video.

Upon its release, it received generally favorable reviews from music critics, with many praising Aaliyah's vocal performance and the song's production.

[3] According to Complex journalist Lauren Nostro it mixes "pop, electro, and a mesmerizing mid tempo hip-hop feel, which allowed Aaliyah's delicate vocals to take the spotlight".

[4] While, i-D journalist Emily Manning states that the song has a "daring" blend of pop and electronic influences.

[5] In a review of Aaliyah, Ian Wade from Dotmusic described the song as "Baroque liquid funk", and Jeff Lorenz from Yahoo!

[8] Micha Frazer-Carroll from The Independent stated, "Even at her most poppy, 'More Than a Woman' includes smooth and sweet self-harmonisation amid dark, minor-key strings".

[9] Kelefah Sanneh of The New York Times said the song features an "uncharacteristically dense arrangement of digital strings, synthetic bass and lissome rhythms".

[10] According to author Tim Footman the songs rhythm is built around "an insistent motif on a Güiro – a Brazilian percussion instrument that's scraped, rather than hit or shaken".

[11] In addition to implementing a variety of sounds, it also contains an initially-uncredited sample from the Egyptian song "Alouli Ansa" by singer Mayada El Hennawy.

[14] She makes "it look deceptively simple the way her understated vocals cut through a glitchy, complex Timbaland beat to take center stage".

[21] Consequently, Blackground and Virgin serviced "Rock the Boat" to rhythmic contemporary radio in the United States as the second single from Aaliyah on August 21.

"[33] While, Brian Lisi from New York Daily News commented on the performance saying, "Her voice delicate yet soulful, Aaliyah's "More Than a Woman" would still resonate despite the limitations of the Tonight Show stage recording.

"[34] Brad Cawn from Chicago Tribune felt that Aaliyah had matured content-wise and described the song as being a "mid-tempo come-on".

[16] Drowned in Sound writer Anita Bhagwandas gave the song a ten rating saying, "This record is not so much the best thing she’s done, rather a pertinent reminder of her ethos of pushing the boundaries and blurring the lines between the genres.

"[36] Len Righi from The Morning Call, stated that "Aaliyah's sexy promises bring a dry-ice kind of heat to "More Than a Woman".

He also felt that "Aaliyah manages to croon over this mechanical bull of a beat, and the lyrics are appropriately terse and frugal, as if she only needs a few key phrases to remind her significant other that she is in fact "more than enough for you.

"[40] In a review of Aaliyah, Luke McManus from the Irish publication RTÉ compared "More Than a Woman" to the work of French electronic music duo Daft Punk and praised her vocal performance.

She was pulling tears out of magazines and sharing those with me, it was a little bit more of how she wanted to present herself and I built the world around her with the motorcycle and the lights and the dance".

The light show was something I've been wanting to do ever since Lenny Kravitz's "Are You Gonna Go My Way", and then the motorcycle motif I think one of the younger guys had initially tossed it out there and I thought it was awesome".

[80] Meanwhile, Aaliyah's backup dancers wore faux Chanel buckle belts purchased on Canal Street, "where they would sell really random knockoff things".

[80] According to Emily Tan from The Boombox Aaliyah "lives up to the title of her 'More Than a Woman' visual by ditching oversized menswear and embracing a sleek look", when discussing her Chanel catsuit.

[82] While comparing Aaliyah's similar jumpsuit look from a live performance, Héloïse Salessy from Vogue France said "it was really the white model she wore in her music video for "More Than A Woman" released in 2001 that made her mark on the fashion scene".

[83] The video starts with a shot of West 4th Street in Los Angeles, looking towards the Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Aaliyah riding a 2001 model Triumph Speed Triple, wearing a helmet and a Dainese jumpsuit.

The camera zooms inside the exhaust pipe and shows Aaliyah dancing in a white Chanel catsuit with other female dancers between the pistons.

British music producer Mark Ronson appears in the club as a DJ, along with then-girlfriend Rashida Jones and her sister Kidada.

[87] Eventually, Blackground obtained a deal with Universal and the video made its television debut on BET, MTV, and VH1 during the week ending January 14, 2002.

[92] Singer Solange interpolated the chorus of "More Than a Woman" in her song "Borderline (An Ode to Self Care)" from her third studio album A Seat at the Table (2016).

[94] Owens stated: "My love and respect for Aaliyah as an artist/vocalist and Timbaland as a producer increased tenfold as I picked the track apart and understood how intricate and layered everything was", adding: "The remix of my cover was something I wanted to write and produce that gave the original track new life, and also gave people a sense of power — it’s unapologetic.

[95] Canadian rapper Drake interpolated the opening verse of "More Than a Woman" into the song "Is There More" from his fifth studio album Scorpion (2018).