enough cascading organs to prompt an urge to listen to your Monkees collection." Taylor ended the review with positive feedback for Madonna's vocals, likening them to those for the "Evita" album, along with commending the chorus. In a different article for "Billboard" talking about the song's remixes, Paoletta described the track as "effervescent blast of psychedelic electronica". Writing for the "Philippine Daily Inquirer", Gino DeLa Paz found it "cute but forgettable". Gwen Ihnat, from the entertainment website "The A.V. Club", labeled it as "Madonna's best song that never appeared on one of her regular albums [...] a psychedelic pop confection that offered a few of her most indelible hooks". Ihnat also wrote that "although less ethereal than 1998's "Ray of Light", ['Beautiful Stranger'] is just as dance-floor ready [...] dance flute has never sounded so enticing, and Madonna's voice so sweetly seductive". AllMusic's Jose F. Promis listed the track "as one of the singer's more memorable moments, coupling 1960s go-go rock with 1990s electronica, resulting in nothing less than a true slice of old fashioned rock & roll"; Promis also praised the two Calderone mixes.