Considine from The Baltimore Sun felt that Lauryn Hill's rendition of "Killing Me Softly" "is so convincing, you'd think it was a sample." Celebrating the album's 20th anniversary in February 2016, Kenneth Partridge from Billboard said, "It's a lovely cover that maintains the spirit of the original while taking the material in new directions." Upon the release, the magazine's Larry Flick viewed it as a "crafty cover". Peter Miro from Cash Box stated that the trio's reworking of the Roberta Flack standard "succeeds wildly." He explained, "Basically they dropped a new rasta engine in the ballad for the diddly-bopping, head-nodding masses. Bet this will be the only version they think exists." Another editor, Gil L. Robertson IV, picked it as a "standout track" of The Score album. Alan Jones from Music Week deemed it "a sensational update", adding that it "touches myriad musical bases, appealing equally to pop, R&B, easy listening and dance fans. Stripped to its bare bones, it is beautifully sung, with just enough rapping to set it apart from the original. The whole thing is superbly underlined by a bumping bass and percussion. Simple, refreshing and a huge hit." James Hamilton from the RM Dance Update noted it as a "plaintive girl and muttering chaps' sparse bass bumped and sitar plinked but still tenderly crooned remake". In January 1997, Spin described the song as "an instant classic, pumped out of every passing car from coast to coast, with Lauryn Hill's timeless voice never losing its poignant kick". Music video The accompanying music video for "Killing Me Softly", directed by Aswad Ayinde and based on Lauryn Hill's ideas, never came out commercially in America. The video depicts the trio watching a movie in a cinema. It also features a cameo of Roberta Flack. Bounty Killer remix Fugees recorded a dancehall version with Bounty Killer rapping, and Hill singing a rewritten chorus. However, they did not receive permission to release it on The Score. Track listing UK CD1 "Killing Me Softly" – 4:03 "Killing Me Softly" – 4:03 "Cowboys" – 3:35 "Nappy Heads" – 3:49 UK CD2 "Killing Me Softly" – 4:16 "Fu-Gee-La" – 4:15 "Vocab" – 4:07 "Vocab" – 5:54 Charts Weekly charts Year-end charts Decade-end charts All-time charts Sales and certifications Release history Notable cover versions The song has been recorded by a number of other artists, including: Johnny Mathis (1973) Perry Como - And I Love