Critical reception
Scottish Aberdeen Evening Express named the song a "slice of cheesy Europop",adding that "you'll grow to either love or hate it!" [12] AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine praised it as a "great guilty pleasure". [13] A reviewer from Austin American-Statesman called it "perky". [14] J. D. Considine from The Baltimore Sun said that from its Moog-style synthesizer hook to the galloping electrobeats that drive the chorus,Gina G's "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit" "is clearly a throwback to the sort of synth-pop that owned the airwaves in the late '80s." [15] Larry Flick from Billboard magazine wrote that "adorable Australian ingénue" has already enjoyed massive pop success throughout Europe with this "instantly infectious hi-NRG dance ditty. It's easy to predict this single scoring similarly high marks here,thanks in large part to her kewpiedoll vocals and the song's tasty,sugarcoated melody. You'll be singing along to the song's chorus before the track's close,while a bevy of meaty remixes will have you happily twitching around the room." [2] Richard Paton from The Blade complimented it as a "smash",that "kicks off" the album of "vibrant dance pop". [16] Swedish Expressen and Göteborgs-Tidningen described it as a "sticky yummy pop pastry" and a "danceable naughty pop song". [17] [18]
L.A. Weekly wrote that it's "an expert confection of interlocking speed-stuttered repetitious-trance electro-breakdance beats,above which Gina G breathily metronomes too-childlike-to-be-suggestive "ooh ahh"s as if she were a Kit-Cat clock ticking and tocking its way to the bank,its Cheshire smile bursting with catnip." [19] Richard Smith from Melody Maker named it Single of the Week and "easily the best Eurovision song since 'Waterloo'". He also said,"A Euro anthem for Eurovision!! How excellent. This is shiny,happy,bouncy and brilliant idiot pop with those galloping Motiv8 rhythms". [20] Music Week gave the song a score of four out of five,adding that its "immediacy,jollity and credibility should stand it in good stead." [21] NME described it as a "frenzy of techno-friendly tunefulness", [22] remarking its "unshakeable" chorus. [23] People Magazine noted that Gina G is adding a "dusky undercurrent and a teasing touch of sultriness" to the song. [24] John Everson from SouthtownStar felt it should be the "dance club sensation of the year",describing it as "a pure hair-flipping bit of flirting,teasing fun. This is just the sort of fodder to form into a perfect pop hit". He also complimented its "Erasure-esque galloping beat". [25] Charles Aaron from Spin called the song a "synthy magic carpet that flies nonstop to flashy,trashy Miami discos where they sell drinks with names like 'Call a Cab'." [26]
Retrospective response
In 2012,"Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit" was ranked No. 45 in NME's list of the "50 Best-Selling Tracks of the 90s",adding that the song sold 790,000. [27] In 2017,Billboard ranked it No. 35 in their list of "The 100 Greatest Pop Songs of 1997",writing,"Bubblegum pop at punk rock speeds,Gina G's lone brush with the mainstream was a B-12 shot that verged on happy hardcore,but whose bpm managed to stay just on the right side of cartoonish. And wow,that synth riff,a live wire running throughout the song,punishing in its uncontrolled effervescence." [28] Same year, BuzzFeed ranked the song No. 25 in their list of "The 101 Greatest Dance Songs of the '90s". [29] In a 2020 review,Can't Stop the Pop described it as a "rollicking tour-de-force" and "relentless,dizzying rush from start to finish". They stated that "the timing of 'Ooh Aah…Just A Little Bit' was perfect;it bottled the Eurodance sound of the early '90s and siphoned it down into a traditionally structured pop song." [30]
In 2013,Tom Ewing of Freaky Trigger called it a "glossy hi-tack" song,adding further,"It's brisk,good-quality bubblegum:a springy keyboard part,a chugging rhythm,and a few fine lines –Every night makes me hate the days –laid down with enough conviction to cross the line between corny and effective." [31] In another 2020 review,Pop Rescue complimented it as "incredibly catchy". [32] In 2014, The Quietus named the song one of "50 Favourite Guilt-Free Pleasures". An editor,Dan Barrow,wrote that the song "enters the realms of unguilty pleasure mostly through its chorus,where the vocal drops registers of excitement to an almost-whisper,just as the arpeggios hit their peaks of Euro-trance intensity,the memory of house piano –the signifier of anticipation and release –leaking through the chorus. The high,almost toxic sheen of its opening fanfare of notes,a gateway drug to more louche pleasures." [33]
