Built on a pounding drum pattern and Timbaland's beatboxing, in "Turn It Up", Norwood expresses her desire to collaborate with the producer on a nostalgic club banger to assume her position atop the game.

"Turn It Up" was generally well received by contemporary music critics who highlighted Timbaland's production and the song's energetic nature.

The song is an homage to the early 1990s with references to Donnie Simpson's Video Soul, Kid n' Play, their 1990 film House Party and Tony!

[3] The line "'Cause I don't wanna sound familiar, want a guaranteed single, not an album filler" levels indirect criticism at former main producer Rodney Jerkins.

"[5] David Browne of Entertainment Weekly declared that track a "superior dance number", which "should have Janet Jackson second-guessing her last album.