Critical Reception
About.com's Joey Rivaldioloio rated the song four out of five stars, and stated: "Clearly this is the case of my milkshake is better than yours, so grab yours quick, or we'll have to charge." While reviewing the soundtrack for the film Mean Girls (2004), in which "Milkshake" is featured, Heather Phares of Allmusic wrote that the song describes "the movie's playfully menacing undercurrent," and called the song "fantastic", and that it is "basically a three-minute tutorial in sex appeal." Rollie Pemberton of Pitchfork called the song "brilliant", and said: "Equal parts cantina gyration and future-funk, Kelis plays the coquette, enticing the entire American male populace with rhythmic coos while simultaneously providing an apt tutorial for aspiring temptresses." Bjorn Randolph of Stylus said that the song "may well be remembered as their masterpiece". Mark Danson of Contactmusic.com was not very fond about the song, criticizing her Neptunes sound, and said: "as it sounds like Williams has done this one in his sleep, it'll probably slip under the radar unless it has a fairly decent video to back it up. It’s obviously supposed to be a kind of sexy electronica, but it just ends up sounding slack." Tony Naylor of NME called the song "probably the oddest track" on the Tasty album.
The Observer named the song the best single of 2004. In 2004, Pitchfork made a list of the top 50 singles of 2003 and listed the song at number eight. In 2005, Pitchfork made a list of the top 100 singles of 2000–2004, listing "Milkshake" at number 21. Stylus named the song the 13th-best single of 2000–2005. In September 2011, VH1 ranked the song at #61 on its list of the 100 Greatest Songs of the '00s. In October 2011, NME placed it at number 136 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".
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