[7] The sexuality was based on "strong women in control" of the 1990s, such as Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, Yo-Yo, Salt-n-Pepa, and TLC.

[11] Starting with Furtado's show at the 94th Grey Cup on November 19, 2006,[12] and extending into the Get Loose Tour, Timbaland's part is filled in by Canadian rapper Saukrates.

The song is composed in a key of B-flat minor in a common time, and features a tempo of 114 beats per minute.

Timbaland's appearance received particular praise, which added Furtado's "high-school musical vocals" over his eighty beats according to Sheffield.

[14] The New Yorker considered it "a playful update" of Janet Jackson's "Nasty", using "a heavier and darker rhythmic bed.

"[15] AllMusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine compared it to "vintage Prince", citing "Promiscuous" as a highlight of Furtado's makeover.

[23] On December 4, 2006, "Promiscuous" won 'Best Pop Single of the Year' at the 2006 Billboard Music Awards, beating Daniel Powter's "Bad Day" and Sean Paul's "Temperature".

[24] The song was nominated for 'Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals' at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards, losing to Tony Bennett & Stevie Wonder's "For Once in My Life".

[29] In April 2008, the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) began certifying ringtone sales, and "Promiscuous" was included in its debut list, having sold 120,000 copies in Canada.

[39][40] The song was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of one million digital copies.

[45] It was her first top five hit since "I'm Like a Bird" (2000) and was certified 6× platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for the sales of 420,000 digital copies.

[45] The song remains popular, with a resurgence resulting from a TikTok trend, and re-entered the Irish Singles Chart and the Billboard Global 200 in October 2020.

The song's music video was directed by Little X and features cameo appearances by Keri Hilson, Bria Myles, Sean Faris, and Justin Timberlake.

It does not follow a storyline and per Furtado's request, focuses on scenes with dancing and flirting because she wanted to recreate the song's indicative vibe, and took the opportunity to shoot a nightclub-filmed music video for the first time.

Their single performances are intercut with several scenes of a dancing crowd, and the lighting changes between blue, green, red, and yellow colors.

[62] In the parody, Furtado (Nicole Parker) is comically portrayed as having given Timbaland (Jordan Peele) a sexually transmitted disease,[62] as well as on YouTube by the comedy group Train of Thought Sketch Comedy, where the video is parodied by troupe member Kaci and features a puppet version of Timbaland.