The song received an accompanying music video which was shot by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, in which Björk and many guest appearances (including a then unknown Norman Reedus) dance frantically in a kind of asylum while they cut out their hair or parts of dolls.

The song begins with a nearly a cappella section, in which Björk sings the line "Since I met you/this small town/hasn't got room", underscored only by ambient sounds.

Portions of the melody are influenced by, if not directly lifted from, Björk's earlier composition "I'm Hungry" from The Sugarcubes' album Stick Around for Joy.

[10] Brantley Bardin of Details commented that "songs like “Violently Happy” summed up a worldview that put all its faith in emotional abandon instead of logic.

[11] Brad Beatnik from Music Week's RM Dance Update wrote, "A typical fourth single, this might not be quite as immediate as her previous hits but it still has some damn fine moments.

"[12] In particular, Simon Reynolds of The New York Times praised the song generally, "The title of 'Violently Happy' captures the Björk effect perfectly: a gush and rush of euphoria, a tidal wave of oceanic feeling.

Over the song's brisk house beats, Björk stammers as she struggles to express feelings of excitement so intense she seems on the brink of leaping out of her skin: 'I'm driving my car too fast with ecstatic music on/I'm daring people to jump off roofs with me.'

In the end, she and Mr. Hooper resort to studio wizardry to gesture at inexpressible feelings, sampling one syllable and turning it into a stuttering vocal tic".

[14] Sylvia Patterson from Smash Hits gave it four out of five, writing, "Not quite the jovial rejoicings of "Big Time Sensuality" but a giant of space-dance majesty, nonetheless.

"[19] and this was further confirmed by Mondino, who added: "She said she was so happy to have experienced the earthquake, and on top of that she didn’t have her son with her so she was freer to experience it without fear... For me she is an iceberg, we only see a little tip of it".

Charles Taylor of Salon.com stated that "Jean-Baptiste Mondino’s "Violently Happy", is what most people mean when they talk about how bad videos can be, as cold and pretentious and humorless as the worst fashion photography".

The performance during the Debut tour was released on Vessel, where she wears a dress similar to the one wore in the music video.

Nick Coleman of The Independent stated that during "Violently Happy" "Björk formed a stubby pencil shape and bounced herself silly".

[21] During its review of Björk's performance at The Academy, MTV Online complimented the singer's energy and wrote that "during "Violently Happy", I thought maybe someone might have snuck something into the coffee I had before the show",[22] on a similar note, Barry Walters of The San Francisco Examiner stated that "a relatively low-key track like "Violently Happy" was turned into the evening’s pounding peak".

[23] Its performance during the Homogenic tour was praised by James Sullivan of the San Francisco Chronicle, who wrote that "As the string section sat motionless during the dance track "Violently Happy", Björk raced back and forth in bare feet to the syncopated thump.