Released on September 3, 2021, as the lead single from Drake's sixth studio album Certified Lover Boy, it is a bass-heavy take on Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy" (1991), which it samples throughout the chorus and refrain.
[4][5] Although that release failed to materialize, on September 13, 2021, Billboard magazine reported that the song had begun to impact US pop, rhythmic and R&B/hip-hop radio stations as the album's lead single.
[12] Pitchfork's Matthew Strauss named it among the early standouts on Certified Lover Boy, pointing out how Drake "is having fun the way he did on his Scary Hours 2 EP and Smiley's "Over the Top".
Club's Nina Hernandez wrote positively: "besides sampling Right Said Fred to great effect, [the song] also succeeds by including well-deployed appearances from Young Thug and Future".
[7] NME's Luke Morgan Britton wrote: "[...] even worse than the sample itself, and the purposely corny video, are the song's lyrics", further opining that "the usually-brilliant Young Thug serves up regrettable lines".
[16] Will Dukes of Rolling Stone labeled the song a "no-brainer anthem", writing that "despite a sticky Future hook, there's something that rings a bit hollow: Drake deliberately lags behind the track, sounding sluggish, rather than sui generis (as on 2017's triumphant 'Gyalchester')".
[18] Complex's Jessica McKinney said "'Way 2 Sexy' is intentionally corny and sleazy", countering that "sometimes that works for Drake, and those songs (and videos) go viral on social media, but I think he went a little too far this time.
In all-white attire, Drake, Future and Thug form a boyband, recreating the videos to Boyz II Men's "Water Runs Dry" and Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way", with a cameo from basketball player Kawhi Leonard.