"Pon de Replay" received positive reviews from music critics, who praised the song's composition and its choice as the singer's debut single.

One of the demos recorded was that of "Pon de Replay", which was written and produced by Carl Sturken, Evan Rogers and Vada Nobles in 2004.

[6][7] The first to respond to the demo tape was Jay-Z, who had recently been appointed as president and CEO of Def Jam Recordings, where Rihanna auditioned for him and music executive L.A. Reid, in his office.

"[6] During the audition, Rihanna performed Whitney Houston's cover of "For the Love of You", "Pon de Replay" and "The Last Time", the latter two of which would go on to be included on her debut album, Music of the Sun.

[12][4] According to the digital music sheet published at musicnotes.com, the song is written in the key of F-sharp minor and is set in common time with a moderated dance groove, with a metronome of 100 beats per minute.

[12] The title of the song is in Bajan Creole, a primarily spoken language used in Barbados,[13] and means "play it again" in English.

[15] Doug Rule of Metro Weekly commented on the lyric "Hey Mr. DJ, won't you turn the music up?"

and that it follows in the footsteps of recent songs which also incorporated "Hey Mr. DJ", including Madonna's "Music" and Jennifer Lopez's "Play".

"[16] Jason Birchmeier of Allmusic wrote about the song's composition and musical influences, "[Pon de Replay] is driven by booming dancehall-lite beats and a reggae vocal cadence (and title spelling), it's a simple dance-pop song at its core, with standard English-language singing as well as a can't-miss singalong hook.

[22] The song was also certified two times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America on December 19, 2012, denoting shipments of over 2,000,000 copies.

[36][37] In the United Kingdom, "Pon de Replay" debuted and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart on September 3, 2005.

With this, the people still bored now begin dancing to Rihanna's track, including Canadian rapper Kardinal Offishall, who also makes a cameo appearance.

[43] Scenes of people dancing in the club are shown, with intercut shots being juxtaposed of Rihanna leaning against a wall with the word "Bar" in LED lights (which is actually part of a Parking sign outside of the window).

[45] The singer's performance in Manchester was released in the United Kingdom through iTunes,[46] and is featured on the Good Girl Gone Bad Live DVD.

[47] Rihanna performed "Pon de Replay" complete with flags of Barbados and colorful carnival attire at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards pre-show in Miami on August 28, 2005.