"Boombastic" received mainly favorable reviews from music critics.
AllMusic editor David Jeffries viewed the song as "pivotal" for the musician.
Larry Flick from
Billboard magazine noted that it "jerks about with a hypnotic groove that owes as much to
hip hop and
rave/
pop as it does to traditional island music. Shaggy's
toasting is quite friendly to mainstream pop ears, and he masterfully twists and bends the chorus. Primed for immediate picking by jeep listeners, smoking track comes in two radical versions that are designed to lure both street kids and their more mature counterparts." Chuck Campbell from
Knoxville News Sentinel declared it as "a confident come-on" driven by the singer's "gravelly purr". He added that it's "making a deeper mark on the American psyche. Unfortunately for Shaggy, the song sounds more like a summer novelty hit than a trendsetting milestone." Heidi Siegmund Cuda from
Los Angeles Times felt "Boombastic" "is by far this summer’s most enchanting radio tune." David Hemingway from
Melody Maker deemed it "ragga
ordinaire". A reviewer from
Music Week gave the track four out of five, stating that being used in the latest
Levi's ad, it's "guaranteeing the Shagster another UK smash with this slo-mo pop
ragga which samples
Marvin Gaye's '
Let's Get It On'." John Kilgo from
The Network Forty named it a "
reggae/
rap masterpiece". Johnny Cigarettes from
NME said, "As chat-up lines go this is so simple, it's brilliant, basically saying 'I'm really rather fantastic in bed, pet, would you like to have intercourse?' As a pop record, however, it is spectacularly boring, like
Shabba Ranks' little brother doing toasting practice while he's getting the piano tuned up." Gerald Martinez from
New Sunday Times found that "with sparse, hypnotic backing, Shaggy's boastful rapping carries the song." A reviewer from
People Magazine opined that the album "is more like the real reggae thing", and "the raw title song is the style's most uncompromising Top 10 trip yet."
James Hamilton from the
Record Mirror Dance Update described it as "gruffy twiddly-diddled".
Al Weisel from
Rolling Stone viewed it as "a stripped-down
dub masterpiece, a percussive cacophony of samples, sound effects and a clanging piano. Shaggy's
baritone growl oozes a sexuality that recalls both the
dance-hall swagger of Shabba Ranks and theatrical self-deprecation of
ska king
Prince Buster." Mark Sutherland from
Smash Hits gave "Boombastic" two out of five, calling it a "gruff, grinding ragga-lite" track. David Sinclair from
The Times described it as "an entertaining tribute to the singer's boundless sex appeal", noting Shaggy's "mischievous glee, the Rs rolling off his tongue like the purr of a big cat." He added, "Set to a plonking, one-note piano riff and minimalist reggae beat, 'Boombastic' is one of those feelgood dance records that seems to conjure a special magic out of thin air. Like the hero in the ad, it will be flying out of shops everywhere."
Retrospective response Bill Lamb from
About.com said Shaggy "exhibits oodles of personal charm alongside the funky grooves" of "Boombastic", naming it one of the best songs from 1990s. Tom Ewing of
Freaky Trigger said the musician is "the benevolent monarch of this world, giving a comical, flirtatious, crowd-tickling performance, his army of mechanical instruments dancing in and out of his phrasing. His main trick here is using his voice like a yo-yo, winding his vowels out on "
rohhhhhh-" before he flicks the word back "
-mantic!"." ==Chart performance==