Its low chart peak was due to lack of airplay and the delay in releasing it in CD single formats, to which the singer's fans protested against Warner Bros.

[3] However, unlike their previous work dynamics, Leonard gave little input during studio sessions and only co-wrote four songs for the album, including "Nothing Really Matters".

According to Madonna: Like an Icon writer Lucy O'Brien, De Vries and Orbit had originally composed and produced the track before Ray of Light had been conceived.

[4] During the sessions, Orbit found De Vries' contribution "off-putting", to which the latter confessed, "On all the collaborations I'd left a lot of space for him, but for this I wanted to put something on the table and say, 'This is what I think'".

[4] In J. Randy Taraborrelli's book Madonna: An Intimate Biography, the singer said that the main inspiration behind "Nothing Really Matters" and "The Power of Good-Bye" from the same album, was other people judging and dissecting her creative process.

Elaborating on the statement, she added, In 'Nothing Really Matters' and 'The Power of Good-Bye', I want people to have a visceral and emotional reaction to things, rather than to have in their mind where all my stuff comes from.

[3] The song was mastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Studios in New York, and included background vocals from Donna De Lory and Niki Haris.

[9] David Browne from Entertainment Weekly noticed that the "hard-step beats and synth washes make the romantic-physical yearnings (and hooks) of 'Skin' and 'Nothing Really Matters' even tauter [...]".

"[14][15] Based on the lyrical content, Bryan Lark from The Michigan Daily reviewed the parent album, and concluded that as the single "Ray of Light" was about confronting the past, "Nothing Really Matters" conversely is about "moving onward.

[20] A promotional 7-inch vinyl was also issued, and included the original album version, along with the B-side and Ray of Light track "To Have and Not To Hold".

[24] Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic, Kevin C. Johnson from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Chris Gernard from Metro Weekly highlighted "Nothing Really Matters" as one of Ray of Light's best tracks.

[12] From the same publication, Jason Lipshutz commented, "What if the suave dance of 'Nothing Really Matters', the eye-popping 'Ray of Light' music video or the stark beauty of 'Frozen' never existed?

"[31] "A bubbly, infectious piece of shufflebeat…" Stuart Maconie wrote in a Q review of Ray of Light, "but aberrant items continually swim into view, like a tumbling, atonal piano solo right out of Schoenberg.

He concluded, "It's a great, bouncy dance track that never received the love it deserved, and its family-friendly themes are a good fit for the event.

He suggested that the original album version was somewhat "tepid", and commented, "This single is a case of where the production supersedes the song, which in and of itself is among Madonna's simplest and least interesting tunes."

[38] Billboard's Nolan Feeney noted, "She keeps the platitudes from sounding empty by taking her younger self to task [...] Dance music is often a tool for artists and listeners to build their identities; here, Madonna uses pulsing beats to shed her skin".

[39] Ranking Madonna's singles in honor of her 60th birthday, The Guardian's Jude Rogers placed "Nothing Really Matters" at number 39, calling it a "heavenly ode to motherhood".

[60] An accompanying music video for "Nothing Really Matters" was directed by Johan Renck and filmed on January 9, 1999, at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City, New York.

"[62] In an interview with American broadcaster and journalist Larry King, Madonna commented about the geisha depiction, "[...] there was a character in the book called Hatsumomo and she's been my muse for the past six months.

[1] Her main look for the video consisted of heavy eye make-up and a pale face with dark, straight hair, as well as a pair red ankle high boots to accompany the kimono.

The look was then re-designed by Gaultier and the Italian fashion duo Dean and Dan Caten for Madonna's 2001 Drowned World Tour.

[67] The video opens with an empty room with a fish painting, and then shows Madonna holding to what looks like a baby, but is actually a big bag of water.

There are multiple scenes of young Swedes of Asian heritage performing butoh dance moves coached by Swedish choreographer Su-En.

Dark and hypnotic, 'Matters' features unconventional choreography that was initially off putting to many (at least for 1999), but in actuality director Johan Renck has created a visual spectacle that demands repeat viewing.

However, Renck, Benckert, and Olsson lost to Sean Broughton, Stuart D. Gordon and Paul Simpson of Digital Domain with their work on "Special" by American-Scottish band Garbage; this remains Madonna's final video to be nominated in that category.

[76][77] The live performance received positive reviews from most music critics; Jason Kaufman from NY Rock commented, "Her constant nationality morphing has got to go.

[86] Matt Cain from BBC Culture pointed out how "there are no distracting theatrics, just Madonna, her image and her voice – which has never sounded better" and described the performance as a "heartfelt rendition".

"[89] The Gaultier kimono has been cited by several publications as one of Madonna's most notable re-inventions and looks, including fashion magazines InStyle, Elle and Harper's Bazaar.

[101] The singer took partial creative control of the issue, and requested photographer of the shoot Patrick Demarchelier to incorporate elements of the novel Memoirs of a Geisha into it, both visually and typographically.

[101] In 2016, the geisha look was adapted on the Logo TV series RuPaul's Drag Race, season eight episode "Supermodel Snatch Game".