produced "head-banging, Slayer sampling rant" which segues into "an almost comically light piano ballad". Some reviewers were more critical. Cyclone Wehner of the Herald Sun negatively compared "Lovers and Friends" to Usher's 2004 B-side ballad "Red Light", expressing a desire for it to be more similar to "Yeah!". The Washington Post writer Andy Battaglia considered the song to be a "chart bait [...] sex ballad" and described Usher's appearance as "listless", while Matt Cibula of Stylus Magazine regarded it to be "blatantly commercial" and similar sounding to Lil Jon's 2004 song "Real Nigga Roll Call". Writing for PopMatters, Lee Henderson stated that the slow jam is "an ode to ass-fucking" and believed that Lil Jon insulted hip hop admirers. Commercial performance and legacy "Lovers and Friends" debuted at number 16 on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart dated November 27, 2004, which was attributed to high airplay despite the lack of a retail release. The song peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated January 22, 2005, on which it lasted for 22 weeks. On the UK Singles Chart, "Lovers and Friends" debuted and peaked at number 10 on the issue dated May 14, 2005, and charted for eight weeks. In Australia, the song debuted at its peak of number 36 on the ARIA Singles Chart dated April 3, 2005, and remained on the chart for eight weeks. On the New Zealand Singles Chart, "Lovers and Friends" bowed at number 15 on the chart dated March 28, 2005, and charted for five weeks. American musician DJ Khaled sampled "Lovers and Friends" on the 2016 song "Do You Mind", which consequently sampled Sterling's song too. "Do You Mind" featured artists including Nicki Minaj, Chris Brown, Jeremih, Future, August Alsina, and Rick Ross. Alsina incorporated elements of Usher's verse in his part on the song. In October 2018, rapper Pitbull and Dominican bachata singer Prince Royce revised "Lovers and Friends" into "Quiero Saber". American actor and singer Trevor Jackson sampled it on the 2020 song "Just Friends", which was released as the lead single from his debut studio album The Love Language (2021). During a Verzuz webcast against T-Pain in April 2020, Lil Jon played 90 seconds of "Lovers and Friends", with him requesting for the rapper's verse to be played after the song was cut short. A Los Angeles music festival was named the Lovers