"[8][9] 550 Music also reissued Apartment Life in the U.S. with new cover art, digitally remastered tracks,[10][11] and four of the songs remixed by Schlesinger and Chase, who opened a new recording studio in New York, Stratosphere, in June 1999.

"[15] The track features backing vocals by musician James Iha and the addition of horns – a brand new element for Ivy, as they tried to incorporate more instruments into the songs on Apartment Life.

Frank Tortorici of MTV News wrote that the "bouncy, Blondie-esque" song shows that Ivy is different from Schlesinger's other band Fountains of Wayne, and that the track would help Apartment Life become a successful release.

"[2] Also referencing the horn section, Kurt B. Reighley from CMJ New Music Monthly joked that the Smiths must have "overlooked" the song and its "punchy melody.

"[18] Along with "The Best Thing" (1997) and "You Don't Know Anything" (1999), Rabid said the single is one of the "pleasantly produced, precisely structured pop dreams that makes fans sing along" on Apartment Life.

[19] Hans Koller and Joyce Grenfell, contributors to The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, considered "This Is the Day" and "Baker" as the two best tracks on Apartment Life.