In the album's booklet, O'Neal dedicated the track to her two dogs, Griffith and the late Dylan.

[8][9] The video begins in a city, where the camera does a full 360 before landing on O'Neal in a cafe sitting at a table with a cup of coffee.

Chuck Taylor of Billboard magazine gave the song a positive review saying, "This track shows that O'Neal is a talent who intends to set up shop in Nashville [...] Strong stuff and pure country.

"[10] Rick Cohoon of AllMusic, in his review for Shiver, called the song along with "There Is No Arizona" as the best tracks from the album.

On August 4, 2001, "When I Think About Angels" would reach number one, displacing Montgomery Gentry's single "She Couldn't Change Me".

[12] With this, O'Neal became the first female artist to have her first two singles to top the country airplay chart since Deana Carter did so in 1996 and 1997 with "Strawberry Wine" and "We Danced Anyway".