Boom Boom Pow - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

Nick Levine from Digital Spy gave "Boom Boom Pow" four out of five stars, saying that "it's a fairly ridiculous robopop stomper featuring no real chorus, 808s & Heartbreak-style beats, lashings of Auto-Tune, techno synths that arrive half-way through and this vintage diss from Fergie: 'I'm so 3008, you're so 2000 and late.' It may well become grating, but frankly who cares? Right now this just sounds cracking." Billboard gave the song a positive review, stating that the song "shows The Black Eyed Peas in fine form" and that it was "a knockout".

• Boston Globe: "Dealt with individually, substance-free, grammatically suspect dance-floor jams like current monster hit 'Boom Boom Pow,' the slinky 'Imma Be,' or the fuzzy 'Missing You' could be booty-shaking guilty pleasures."
• Dot Music: "E.N.D. opener 'Boom Boom Boom' has a long way to go before it even tickles the room, mid-tempo beats cushioning a Fergie vocal that an autotune stuck on override can't sort out."

• Entertainment Weekly: "Indeed, indefatigable Auto-Tune anthems like The E.N.D.'s propulsive lead single, 'Boom Boom Pow' (already the band's most successful to date), seem fueled by some mysterious slurry of dance-floor plutonium and diet Red Bull."

• Vibe magazine: "However, the intergalactic punch of 'Boom Boom Pow'–BEP’s first Billboard chart-topper–has stimulated a slew of cosigns from the likes of 50 Cent, Gucci Mane, and Kid Cudi."

• The Guardian: "As on their recent No 1 single, 'Boom Boom Pow', electronic clicks and buzzes are used lavishly, and the mood is as positive as ever. Just don't expect to love it immediately."

• Los Angeles Times: "The titles of the Peas' biggest hits tell the story: the giggle-inducing pun of 'Don't Phunk With My Heart,' the cheerily crude anatomical gesture of 'My Humps' and now the Imax-ready sound effects burst of the chart-topping 'Boom Boom Pow.'"

• Rolling Stone: "Whereupon the record segues into the Number One hit 'Boom Boom Pow,' and all hell breaks loose. There are Auto-Tune vocal trills, eerie synth chords, screechy disco-diva wailing, 808 thuds, raps about 808 thuds and a dizzying barrage of doggerel: 'I got that . . . digital spit/Next-level visual shit.' It is an assault on the senses, and on good taste. And it's the best thing The Black Eyed Peas have ever recorded."

• The Independent: "Contrary to Fergie's claim on 'Boom Boom Pow' that 'I'm so 3008, you so 2000-and-late', their supposedly innovative electro-beat stylings are tired."