Bring It On experienced a boost in popularity when it won the 1998 Mercury Music Prize, beating favourites such as Massive Attack's Mezzanine and The Verve's Urban Hymns.

[3] NME critic Steve Sutherland described it as "one of the most assured, poised, hilarious, out-there, plain don't-give-a-fuck enjoyable debut albums in living memory".

[3] AllMusic's Greg Prato was impressed by the band's ability to "cover a lot of ground convincingly" on a debut album, concluding that "the praise [it] received is definitely not hype".

[11] Critic Robert Christgau gave the album a three-star honourable mention rating, naming "Whippin' Piccadilly" and "Love Is Better Than a Warm Trombone" as highlights and quipping, "Really the roots-rock—they mean it, man".

[13] Neva Chonin of Rolling Stone was more critical, finding that the band "excels in sonic mimicry" but lacks a distinct musical identity.