Otir Hard of NPR dubbed the song one of the catchiest to be released in 2018, adding that it "lives up to the grandeur on first listen". Kory Grow writing for the Rolling Stone described the beat as "hard-hitting". Simon Reynolds cited "Apeshit" as an example for the continuing "triumph" of Auto-Tune in contemporary music, with Beyoncé "jump on the trap bandwagon a transparent attempt to compete on urban radio by adopting the prevailing template of commercial-yet-street rap". In December 2018, Billboard ranked "Apeshit" as the 27th best song of the year. For Pitchfork, it was the 85th, while Rolling Stone named the song as the 24th best one of 2018. The Guardian listed "Apeshit" at number 21 on their year end ranking,, while Q at number 19, and The Village Voice at number 14.
Awards and nominations
Music video
The music video for the song was directed by Ricky Saiz, produced by Iconoclast, and filmed in Louvre in Paris and Los Angeles, California in May 2018. It was premiered on the second night of the London show during their On the Run II Tour at the London Stadium. The clip lasts for six minutes. It opens with a man who has wings, seen crouching as bells and sirens are prominent in the background, and features visual imagery suggesting comparisons and linkages between wealth, status, and royalty in the Renaissance-era artwork and the eventual evolution of these characteristics into the Carters. The visual narrative moves on to reveal the empty halls at the Louvre and the pair posing in front of Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece the Mona Lisa. Once the song starts playing, the scene cuts to the duo poised atop a marble staircase while dancers lay across the descending steps contracting and releasing their torsos to the rhythmic flow of the song. Statues and paintings such as Winged Victory of Samothrace, Venus de Milo, and The Coronation of Napoleon are featured throughout the video as the duo lip-sync the lyrics to the track. Otir Hard of NPR called the video "extravagantly produced six minutes, filled with high art, pastel suits and turnt up museum parties". Kory Grow writing for Rolling Stone deemed the clip "stunning" and noticed how the duo looked "serene" in it resembling "works of arts themselves".. Later in the year, the same magazine would declare the video the best one of 2018. The music video received 8 nominations at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards, in categories Video of the Year, Best Collaboration, Best Hip-Hop Video, Best Cinematography, Best Direction, Best Art Direction, Best Choreography and Best Editing, winning Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction. The music video was nominated for Best Music Video at the 61st Grammy Awards.
