(
pictured in 2005) Upon its release, "Holler" received mixed reviews from
music critics. Taylor highlighted the quality and confidence of the members' vocals, as well as the "bold, saucy attitude evident here that's more convincing than in the past." He also complimented the "swift, clever, kicky" production. Craig Seymour of
Entertainment Weekly gave the track a B− rating, writing that the girls "sound like they really, really wanna be
Destiny's Child" on the song. Seymour also praised "its charms", praising the "easy yet funky groove, their exaggerated British accents", as well as Darkchild's "familiar slapping, kinetic beats". He also called it "their most compelling reason to dance" since their single "
Say You'll Be There" (1996).
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of
AllMusic simply picked the song as one of the best from
Forever. According to Jackson Langford from
MTV Australia, "Holler" was "easily the biggest surprise the Spice Girls ever managed to pull off", but it "feels so far apart from what fans are used to", although being "at least somewhat enjoyable". Similarly, Julia Jafaar from the
New Straits Times wrote, "Those who have heard the hit single, Holler, from the new album, would probably attest that the music arrangement and style" were atypical of the group and its previous hits. Jenny North from
Dotmusic considered the track "slick, fun, as catchy as crabs and the girls are sounding sexier than ever before", predicting it would "lodge itself in your head with the rest of their back catalogue" after a few listens. Writing for the same website, Cyd Jaymes wrote that "Holler" and "Let Love Lead The Way" were the best songs on
Forever "by a country mile", but they still did not "deserve to be singles". Whitney Matheson of
USA Today called it similar to the works of
Sister Sledge, Destiny's Child and
Nu Shooz songs, writing that, "while the
No Scrubs-y vibe briefly tempted me to shout a dirty word and bare my navel, styrofoam phrases such as 'Don't be afraid to play my game' are more
Teletubby than
T-Boz." Arion Berger of
The Washington Post compared the track to "catching your little sister making out with some guy at the mall". In a review for the album, the
Lincoln Journal Star staff considered that "attempts at uptempo, funky sounds" such as "Holler" "fall flat almost instantly". Retrospective reviews for the single have also been mixed. Will Stroude of
Attitude considered the track "funky, attitude-filled", but acknowledged that retrospective reviews of the song "haven’t always been kind, but they make the mistake of defining the era based on the cultural craze that had come before, rather than taking it on its own terms", but asserted that "connoisseurs know that ‘Holler’ still slaps almost two decades later." While reviewing their
Greatest Hits album, Nick Levine of
Digital Spy stated that "Jerkins' slick, stuttering R&B numbers" from
Forever, which included "Holler", failed to capitalise on the group's "very British sense of mischief". According to
The Guardians
Alexis Petridis, Jerkins was a "great signing" as producer, although his "more avant tendencies" were "hemmed in by the necessity of making Spice Girls records with direct pop appeal"; hence, he described "Holler" as "serviceable, rather than thrilling". Dom Passantino of
Stylus Magazine rated the single 3/10, saying the song is his "personal pick for the worst production job in musical history, ol' Darkchild took the most unique, epoch-defining, cultural maelstrom of a group he could find, and turned them into a facsimile of
Fanmail-era
TLC." Tom Ewing of
e-zine Freaky Trigger said the song "shifts and shuffles in a competent, modish way", but criticized the group and the producer for "not trying to change any games". He also described the intro as sounding dated: "Like 'Holler' needed to sound any more 2000." ==Chart performance==