On May 24, 2012, a poll was posted on Minaj's official website asking the fans to choose the next single(s).

[10] After each chorus there is a "frantic" Eurodance and dubstep breakdown, and also features the sounds of alarms, which were sampled from American artist Britney Spears from her 2000 single "Stronger", weaving beats, and "seize-the-night" lyrics.

Entertainment Weekly gave a positive review by describing the song as "The perfect trunk rattler to blast from your pink Barbie Bentley, with booming synths that build to a brain-numbing epiphany: 'Music.

'"[15] Slant Magazine stated that "Pound the Alarm", along with "Starships", "Whip It", and "Automatic", are "retro-techno-pop earsores comprised of indiscriminately arranged bits of LMFAO's 'Sexy and I Know It', Rihanna's 'We Found Love', and pretty much any recent Britney Spears or Katy Perry song you can name", adding that "Her repeated exhortation on 'Pound the Alarm' to get things 'hotter and hotter and sexy and hotter' is about as weak as club-jam come-ons get.

"[16] Fact gave it a positive review, saying "its avalanche-force hoover noises are so over-the-top and its hooks so catchy that you may as well save time and cave into it now.

"[18] Andrew Unterberger of Popdust gave the song a mixed review, and compared it to the works of Jennifer Lopez, Taio Cruz, The Black Eyed Peas, and Beyoncé.

[11] Billboard editor Andrew Hampp gave the song a negative review, stating that it is a "'Starships' sound-alike" and saying the only difference is that "Nicki does a little bit more singing than she does on her current single, but otherwise the two tracks are virtually indistinguishable.

"[19] Emily Mackay from NME said the song was a "charmless trancey ba[n]ger" and categorised it as a part of the album that "flipflops".

It was eventually certified 2× Platinum by Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for sales of 70,000.

The song also marks Minaj's third solo top ten entry in the UK, following "Super Bass" and "Starships".

In Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia), the song debuted at 41 and 43, reaching numbers fourteen and thirty-one, respectively (for two consecutive weeks).

The video was shot in Trinidad at Queen's Park Savannah on July 4, 2012, and had what was seen to be a carnival theme.

500 people were scheduled to appear in the music video and were asked to come wearing carnival attire.

[27] The video opens with a steelpan version of the song, and shots of different locations in Port of Spain.

Then the flag of Trinidad and Tobago appears before Minaj is shown standing in a bird eye view of Port of Spain.

Towards the end of the video, Minaj is sitting on top of a stereo speaker, while fireworks appear in the night sky.

Towards the end of the video Minaj is seen in front of her cousins from Trinidad,[28] and wrapping a Trinidadian bandanna around her mouth.

The video ends with Minaj walking towards a bright light still dressed in Carnival attire.

"[29] Minaj performed "Pound the Alarm" live during Radio 1's Hackney Weekend on June 23, 2012, as part of the line-up on the main stage.

The song is featured in the fourth episode of the tenth season of RuPaul's Drag Race.