The house-inspired EDM and hip hop song was written alongside Sarah Hudson, Starrah, producer Duke Dumont, and additional producer PJ "Promnite" Sledge, with Roland Clark receiving writing credits for the sampling of his song "I Get Deep", and Noah "Mailbox" Passovoy receiving additional and vocal production credits.

Multiple media outlets suspected that the song is about American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and her 2015 single "Bad Blood", which was believed to be about Perry.

Subsequently, Perry continued to promote the track during BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend, the Glastonbury Festival 2017 and The Voice Australia.

"[2] Eventually, they paired together to work on the record, with Dumont claiming that Perry was a fan of his music and that they kept in touch, noting that "her vision for the album wasn't a million miles away from the stuff I'm making.

"[4] Perry also talked about Minaj's rap skills, commenting: "With Nicki, she's such a [boss-ass bitch] that you can send her anything and her pen game is crazy.

[6][7] Its single cover features Perry's "blinged-out hand holding receipts from a place called 'Karma Coffee & Tea'.

'"[20] During the song, she claims herself as a "courtside killer queen,"[20] and in the chorus, Perry "sweetly" sings "'Swish swish, bish.

Leonie Cooper of NME was very positive, noting that "calling in Nicki Minaj's fast and furious flow for the Fatboy Slim-sampling 'Swish Swish', meanwhile, is something of a master stroke, turning a good song into a great one.

"[30] Raisa Bruner of Time defined the song as "a feisty hip-hop track that lets both artists show off their respective areas of expertise".

"[31] Hannah J Davies of The Guardian claimed that the song "is a house-fuelled banger with undeniable groove and nonsense content.

"[8] Kitty Empire of The Observer also noted that "the Roland Clark sample" and "the ever-inventive Nicki Minaj, provides more top-flight, shade-throwing diva product.

[18] Mikael Wood of Los Angeles Times thought the song was "a delight as Perry rhymes 'another one in the basket' with 'another one in the casket' over Duke Dumont's thrusting '90s-house beat".

[37] Jillian Mapes of Pitchfork was less favorable, declaring: "If you're going to do something as tired as fueling this beef, at least give us the satisfaction of making it deliciously shady.

"[38] Anna Gaca of Spin noted it as "another single that makes little sense", and "a random grab bag of Perry's vocals, obnoxious voice-altering effects, and piano flourishes, all laid over a house-inflected beat".

[17] Gavin Miller of Drowned in Sound was mixed in his review, calling "largely just a deep house track with Katy Perry singing a topline, which isn't a bad thing," but felt the producers were "just offering up tunes they've had on their hard drives for Perry's team to compartmentalise and see what demographics they represent.

"[23] Retrospectively, Christopher Rosa of Glamour called the song a "moment of brilliance" on Witness with its "basement rave-ready beat and cheeky lyrics".

[41] Entertainment Weekly deemed it her 10th best song and a "vogue-worthy tribute to 90's house music, complete with hissing hi-hats, endearingly goofy lyrics", adding that Minaj's guest verse was "gag-worthy".

[57] A lyric video for the song was released on YouTube on July 3, 2017, and features Brazilian singer and reality television personality Gretchen.

It includes appearances from Russell Horning, Gaten Matarazzo, Jenna Ushkowitz, Doug the Pug, Christine Sydelko, Dexter Mayfield, Rob Gronkowski, Joey Chestnut, Molly Shannon, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Rich Eisen, Bill Walton, and Terry Crews.

Awesome Kong, Britney Young, Sydelle Noel, Ellen Wong, and Jackie Tohn make appearances as their characters from GLOW.

[66] Dave Holmes of Esquire noted that "like all great pop music videos, 'Swish Swish' leaves you exhausted, annoyed, confused, and a good seven years older than you were six minutes ago.

"[67] Jordan Sargent of Spin wrote that the video was "bad", though added "it does at least feel like Katy Perry in all her messy glory.

[69] The performance quickly went viral, with much of the attention coming towards teen dancer Russell Horning, dubbed the "Backpack Kid", whose arm-swinging dance move ("the Floss") became widely imitated.

[70] Perry also performed the song during her set on BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend on May 27, 2017,[71] the Glastonbury Festival 2017 on June 24, 2017,[72] as well as on The Voice finale on July 2, 2017,[73] featuring male dancers in high heels.

[75] As stated by Billboard's Joe Lynch, Perry started the performance "standing atop an enormous half-basketball on stage."

As Lynch wrote, "her backup dancers sport[ed] nets-for-veils on their faces", while later "the half-basketball rotated around to reveal Nicki Minaj hidden inside."