"Rich Girl" received mixed reviews from music critics. Richard Smirke of
Playlouder said that it brought "a much-needed element of diversity" to
L.A.M.B. and called it a "potential hit single". Krissi Murison of the
NME, however, described it as "
playground chant featuring a tough-girl ragga
cameo from Eve." John Murphy from
musicOMH gave it an overall positive review, calling it "a great fun song, and far superior to some of the dross that comes out these days", but also commented that it did not live up to "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" and found the references to the Harajuku Girls "slightly creepy." Lisa Haines of
BBC Music referred to the song as "
disco gold, impossibly girly and very easy to dance to." The song drew comparisons to the No Doubt album
Rock Steady, and Charles Merwin of
Stylus Magazine described it as "a lite version of '
Hey Baby'." Several reviewers found it ironic that Stefani, who had already sold 26 million records with No Doubt, discussed having money in the
counterfactual conditional. John Murphy from
musicOMH found it "rather strange" for Stefani to sing the song while living off of royalties from No Doubt and her husband,
post-grunge musician
Gavin Rossdale. Anthony Carew from Neumu called the lyrics "insipid" and noted that "the incredibly wealthy pop-starlet wonders what it'd be like to be, uh, incredibly wealthy".
The Orange County Register writer Ben Wener told Stefani that the song was disingenuous and "absurd", to which Stefani responded that the point of view was from before she was famous. The interpolation of "If I Were a Rich Man" drew mixed reviews. Jason Damas, writing for
PopMatters, argued that the track "turns it into an anthem of urban
bling-lust" and that its "simple pounding piano
chord makes for great
percussive backing."
The Villagers Winnie MCCroy found the interpolation "innovative" and noted the song's take on "the current style of shout-out rap songs."
David Browne of
Entertainment Weekly disagreed, stating that the interpolation was used awkwardly, Jason Shawhan from
About.com called the track "a
dancehall/classic
house teardown of 'If I Were a Rich Man'" and added, "If this is what
Jay-Z's fudging with
Annie has wrought, I say, be glad of it." ==Commercial performance==