Phillip R Lopez directed its music video, in which Trainor dances in an empty room and destroys every piece of furniture in it with a baseball bat.

Meghan Trainor's popularity declined in the lead-up to the release of her third major-label studio album, Treat Myself (2020), which received limited live promotion due to the COVID-19 lockdowns.

Tom Norris mixed the song at Snackworld in Los Angeles, and Randy Merrill mastered it at Sterling Sound in New York City.

[13] Rolling Stone's Tomás Mier characterized "Whoops" as a pop-doo-wop song, and Riff's Mike DeWald believed it has a "modern minimalistic pop sound" reminiscent of the work of Ariana Grande.

[20][21] AllMusic's Matt Collar thought the song represented Trainor's "contemporary, hip-hop-inspired update of '50s vocal doo wop" on Timeless, which was one of the stylistic notes that popularized her.

[22] Writing for the Official Charts Company, George Griffiths believed it mixed the album's sound with "bone-crunching R&B" but was the song that most resembled a "classic Meghan track".

Sputnikmusic's Benjamin Jack was critical of this and believed it contradicted Trainor's usual body-positive message, casting "doubt upon the character the singer has cultivated for herself over the years".

[20] In an episode of her podcast Workin' on It, she reflected that it was her favorite music video ever, except another one she had filmed with her son Riley, and it accentuated her buttocks so much that she would show it to her grandchildren one day.

[26] Her stylist arranged new outfits for her six backup dancers on short notice, and Trainor ended up performing "Whoops" on the show despite facing difficulties singing it and remembering the dance moves, and later at Capital's Summertime Ball 2024.