Before its official release, "Music" leaked onto the internet and was put up for listening in websites like Napster, which prompted Madonna's team to issue a statement threatening legal action.

After the critical and commercial success of her seventh studio album, Ray of Light (1998), Madonna intended to embark on a new concert tour in 1999, but due to the delay of her film, The Next Best Thing, it was cancelled.

[2] Ray of Light's success had made Madonna keen to go into a recording studio and she was introduced to French DJ and producer Mirwais Ahmadzaï through photographer Stéphane Sednaoui.

[3] In an interview with CNN, Madonna recalled that her Maverick Records company partner Guy Oseary "was given a demo by a French artist called Mirwais [Ahmadzaï]".

[15] According to Rikky Rooksby, author of Madonna: The Complete Guide to her Music, the whole production has a dry sound with heavy usage of equalization which created contrast in the vocal, continuing till the first chorus.

Musician Stuart Price, who worked the song for Madonna's 2001 Drowned World Tour, added that the rhythmic structure of "Music" was inspired from Kraftwerk's 1977 single, "Trans-Europe Express".

[16] According to the book Madonna's Drowned Worlds, written by Santiago Fouz-Hernández and Freya Jarman-Ivens, "Music" is a "disco anthem, and the beat commands [the people] to get up and dance".

[17] The authors noted that the music was the central identification for the song, with its "splashes of electronica and production tricks" from reverse cymbal crescendo, and "tightly quantized" pitch and sounds from a Hammond organ.

[18] Barry Walters from Billboard found the composition to also contain a blend of French electronica and 1970s electro funk,[12] while Richard S. He of the same publication described the record as "postmodern, escapist dance-pop".

"Music" was remixed by Groove Armada, Deep Dish, Victor Calderone, Hex Hector, and Tracy Young; all of them were handpicked by Madonna since it was "more important to [her] that my records get played in the clubs.

J. Randy Taraborrelli, author of Madonna: An Intimate Biography, declared "Music" as a dance-anthem "that reaches into the future but also slyly conjures images and feelings of the good ol' disco days".

[12] Another Billboard writer Joe Lynch highlighted that Madonna had successfully created a "surefire radio winner with cross-generational appeal", he also said the song was a "dancefloor call-to-arms boasting a faint patina of electroclash for the club kids, a throbbing techno beat for suburban ravers and enough old-school electro-funk that her middle-aged fans could still nod along".

[20] Ethan Brown, from New York magazine, stated that the song "elicits memories of past pop odes to dance culture", and praised its "giddy mix of electro-bounce, campy vocoder chants, and funky keyboard squeals".

[40] Negative criticism came from The Guardian's Garry Mulholland, who described the track as "the sound of a bunch of middle-aged trend-watchers second-guessing what today's kids go for [...] the absolute definition of mutton-dressed-as-lamb middle-youth".

[44] Prior to the official release of the song, it started receiving airplay in US radios due to public demand, as noted by Paul Bryant, program director at WHTZ (Z100) station in New York.

[66][67] The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) certified it gold in July 2013, and according to the Official Charts Company, "Music" is Madonna's 14th best-selling single and sold 510,000 units in the region as of August 2023.

"[81] Madonna's look in the clip was described by O'Brien as a "ghetto-fabulous female in a feather boa and stetson; all diamonds and bling, going to lapdancing bars and travelling in the back of a luxury limousine".

It was hosted by VH1's Rebecca Rankin who presided a discussion with Rolling Stone music critic Joe Levy about Madonna and her looks, as well as a video interview with Mazar and Harris.

An animated section follows where Madonna, as a superhero character with superpowers, flies above rooftops, swims underwater, and works as a DJ at a club with a dozen arms like a Hindu deity.

Jacobs believed that the phrase "Hey Mr. DJ" gave rise to the usage of name-checking in songs thereafter, employed by other artists like Jennifer Lopez, Black Eyed Peas and Mariah Carey.

[37] Michael Roffman from Consequence of Sound listed the track at number 15, feeling that the commercial reception to the release of "Music" was "almost meta come to think of it; the song did make people come together".

[121] She took off the jacket to reveal a black tank top with the words "Material Girl" and performed the song, joined by backup singers Niki Haris and Donna De Lory.

Madonna wore tight black jeans and a customized Dolce & Gabbana halter top that proclaimed "Mother" in the front and "F*cker" in the back.

[123] In his review, NME's Alex Needham commented that the performance "underlines how easily [Madonna] could have brought the audience to collective orgasm by simply reeling out her classics".

[126] Set to a slower, hip-hop inspired remix, the performance featured Madonna and her dancers wearing Scottish kilts and a lighted staircase surrounding a DJ Station.

[130] Halfway through the performance, Madonna walked to the center stage where, according to MTV's Corey Moss, she did "her best Saturday Night Fever-era John Travolta routine, complete with the 'hitchhike' (you know, thumbs to the side)".

Madonna wore a skintight black suit and a lace top, and began the performance by singing the song at the very front of the stage a cappella, before all her dancers joined.

[135][136] The performance of the song at River Plate Stadium of Buenos Aires, Argentina, was recorded and released on the live CD-DVD album, Sticky & Sweet Tour (2010).

[137] In 2012, Madonna included the song on her Super Bowl XLVI halftime show set list, where it was remixed with LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem" and "Sexy and I Know It".

The rendition featured samba music, elements of her Madame X song "Faz Gostoso" and the crew dressed in the Brazil flag with Madonna and Pabllo Vittar dancing together on stage.