[5] With "Best" servicing to minimal reaction nationwide, Elliott then entered recording sessions with recurring collaborator Pharrell Williams throughout the first quarter of 2009, as effort to produce a stronger radio single.

[6] The result was the Teyana Taylor-featured "Put It on Ya", which like its predecessor failed to gain commercial appeal; but managed to cite limited promo attention in European regions.

[6] In 2012, in between both battling Graves' disease and contributing production for protégées Jazmine Sullivan and Sharaya J, Elliott returned to the making of her seventh album, and recruited childhood friend Timbaland to materialize the dual-promotional efforts "9th Inning" and "Triple Threat".

[7] While the songs met with lukewarm success on the digital charts, the releases failed to amass the proper impact needed to revive the "energy" of Elliott's seventh studio set.

[13] The song's entirety also features a female voice muttering the phrase "in person," which derives from Trayvon Martin's friend Rachel Jeantel, who uttered the wording in a 2013 interview with Huffpost Live.

[16] Spencer Kornhaber from The Atlantic found that "no one is as reliably able and willing to start a party as Missy [...] She’s not buying melodies from Swedish pop geniuses in attempts to conquer multiple radio formats; she’s not lugging around a Narrative.

[19] Alexa Camp, author for Slant magazine, wrote that the song "pairs Pharrell's paint-can beats with deep, sinuous 808s, and if the track lacks an obvious hook, it makes up for it with sheer swagger.

[25] The critically acclaimed "futuristic" visual features extensive directing control by Elliott's frequent collaborator Dave Meyers, alongside hyper-paced choreography by longtime friend Hi-Hat.

The Guardian writer Lanre Bakare felt that "her first music video in seven years demonstrates that pop has missed Missy’s unique mix of street culture, futuristic imagery and off-kilter production."