Commercially, the song performed well in New Zealand, where it peaked at number seven (its highest position on a chart anywhere in the world).

The song would later be used in the American box office hit film Bring It On (released August 2000) and its accompanying soundtrack.

[5] Andy Capper from NME said: "'UGLY' continues the playground putdown vibes of Daphne & Celeste's first single, 'Ooh Stick You'.

"[3] Capper's review of the song was overall positive, but acknowledged nonetheless that it is "a bit ruder" than their previous single.

[3] Retrospective comments came from Alex Denney of Dazed, who called the song one "of the era's most demented pop songs" and "pitched-up playground taunts torn from the pages of Malcolm McLaren's wrong-pop rulebook" along with "Ooh Stick You",[6] while Pete Cashmore of The Guardian described it as "tartrazine-addled trash-pop" and Tim Jonze of the same publication labeled it "chipmunk pop".