Its lyrics address fashion, self-love and "traditional masculine bravado", performed in a sing-rapping style filled with metaphors, arrogance, charisma, and fun.

[10] After a show on the Moonshine Jungle Tour (2013–14), American songwriter Philip Lawrence suggested using an opening bassline; however, as he did not play bass himself, Canadian recording engineer Charles Moniz asked him to sing it.

[23][39] The Guardian's music critic noted influences of Cameo, Earth, Wind & Fire, Chaka Khan, New Edition, Prince, Sugarhill Gang and The Gap Band.

[23][40] Billboard's music critic compared the song to George Kranz's "Trommeltanz (Din Daa Daa)" (1983), Earth, Wind & Fire's "Getaway" (1976), One Way's "Cutie Pie" (1982), Sugarhill Gang's "Apache" (1981), The Gap Band's "Oops Up Side Your Head" (1979) and "Early in the Morning" (1982), The Sequence's "Funk You Up" (1979), Morris Day & The Time's "Cool" (1981) and "Jungle Love" (1984), as well as, Zapp's "More Bounce to the Ounce" (1980).

[40] Matt James of PopMatters felt Morris Day & The Time's "The Bird" (1984), Kool & the Gang's "Get Down on It" (1981) and Was (Not Was)' "Walk the Dinosaur" (1987) to have influenced "Uptown Funk".

[41] Various critics noticed the pastiche on "Uptown Funk", from the "electric purple texture of the synths and the loose slap of the rhythms" to the "Prince-backed 80's...Morris Day & The Time".

[40][51] Mars shows not only "soul and swagger" in the sing-rapping verses, "I'm too hot / Call the police and the fireman", but he also jokes around, "Got Chucks on / With Saint Laurent / Gotta kiss myself / I'm so pretty".

Nick Murray of Rolling Stone gave the song a rating of four out of five stars, praising the "George Kranz scatting and Nile Rodgers guitar riff."

[48] Kirsten Maree of Renowned for Sound called the song "a joyous, bass-slapping little ditty that joins the likes of Olly Murs' Wrapped Up and Pharrell Williams' Gust Of Wind in a trend of soul clad 70's throwbacks.

The vocal dum-dum bass line, meets the scratchy melody of the electric guitar right off the bat, sending us hurling back in time and ready to dance.

"[55] PopMatters's Matt James called the track a "deftly daft, delirious and incessant, booty-shaking blast of brass 'n' bravado", finding it a standout on the album.

[56] Neil McCormick from The Telegraph enjoyed the track because he "liked all the records it was built out of, by James Brown, Earth Wind & Fire and The Gap Band".

[47] Jim Farber of the New York Daily News said the recording "isn't even a song", adding "[i]t's a vamp, a rush of 'hit me' rhythms of the style patented by James Brown".

Andrew Unterberger wrote, the song enters "the canon of "September", "Celebration", and "I Gotta Feeling", jams to be played at every wedding from now until the end of time".

[58] Stereogum called it the best pop song of 2015: "Channeling Morris Day by way of Trinidad James, Mars and Mark Ronson crafted the year's most universal hit, one that will live on for decades at all kinds of jubilant public gatherings.

"[59] Vulture ranked it at number 6 on its "The 10 Best Songs of 2015" list: ""Uptown Funk" will be played at every wedding reception you attend for the rest of your life, and its opening notes will fill you with neither embarrassment nor dread.

[83] "Uptown Funk " was inducted to the 2017 edition of the Guinness World Records for achieving the most weeks at number one on Billboard's Digital Song Sales chart.

In 2015, similarities with "Oops Up Side Your Head" (1979) by the Gap Band led them, along with keyboardist Rudolph Taylor, and producer Lonnie Simmons to be added as co-writers of "Uptown Funk" receiving 17% of the publishing royalties.

When Ronson was asked if he heard similarities between "Uptown Funk" and the theme tune, he said, "Oh, then the horns, I understand what they're saying, yeah, we owe a little bit ... all equally influenced by Quincy Jones".

[171] Newsweek's Jed Gottlieb explained the reason "Uptown Funk" is an immortal track is because "the song is an increasingly rare phenomenon", since dancing allows us to connect "divergent demographics".

[22] Jeremy Allen of BBC said that "the biggest hits of the past few years", such as Ronson's "Uptown Funk" and Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" (2013) drew inspiration from the 80s funk/soul works by Prince, Michael Jackson, Nile Rodgers and others, leading the "80s to dominates modern culture".

[177] On the same month, Jay Cridlin writing for Tampa Bay Times compiled a list of the 50 "The best pop songs of the 2010s", placing "Uptown Funk" at the top of it.

"[179] Stereogum compiled a list of The 200 Best Songs Of The 2010s, ranking "Uptown Funk" at number 19, Margaret Farrell affirmed the record "was a monstrously successful, inescapable single, the soundtrack for 2014 and well into 2015.

[183] In September 2024, Billboard's Kyle Denis affirmed that "Uptown Funk" "is the kind of genuine cultural phenomenon and musical juggernaut that feels damn near impossible in this age of hyper-fragmented social media silos.

Lyndsey Parker, also writing in Rolling Stone felt Ronson and Mars complement Morris Day and The Time's "funky-fresh-to-death tradition well", ranking it number six on the list of 20 videos.

[201] The Village Voice's Hillary Hugues praised the vocals by Mars, dance moves and the "taut line between cheeky confidence and charm" that he was able to walk.

Then Mars, dressed in a red blazer, snap back and black shades, and some of his band-mates, led the "audience through some choreography", before making their way to the stage, where Ellen also showed "her little two-step".

Ronson appeared handling DJ duties, while Mars and his dancers performed "Uptown Funk", wearing an all-black Versace outfit with gold chains.

[218][219] It is also featured in the film Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022), on the episode "Child Star" of the sixth season of Glee, and the video game Sackboy: A Big Adventure.

[225] Later the single was mashed up with dance moves of different actors, such as Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and Gene Kelly in films from the Golden Age of Hollywood.