The music video for the song was released on January 23, 2020, with the song being released a day later by Atlantic Records.[1][3][4] The song was produced by Take a Daytrip.[5]
Reception
Reid McCarter of The A.V. Club described the song as being "catchy as hell" but also "littered with goofy references to the Sonic games"; he wrote the music video to it was "while incredibly dumb, is a cornucopia of hilarious imagery".[6] Napier Lopez of The Next Web wrote that the song had a "surprisingly chill groove", while also noting the recurring sounds of ring jingles and pixelated art present in the song's music video.[7] Emma Kent of Eurogamer also described the chorus as "surprisingly catchy".[8] Christopher Rosen of Vanity Fair wrote, "you won’t need all the rings to make it through this one"; while Julia Alexander of The Verge praised the music video of the song and the use of pixelation in it.[9][10] Bryn Gelbart wrote that the song was "loaded with talent".[11] On IMDb, the average rating out of 23 reviews for the song was a 7.2/10.[12] The music video for "Speed Me Up" also reached 33 million views on YouTube as of December 2024.[4]
Music video
The music video first displays Wiz Khalifa playing Sonic the Hedgehog on a Sega Genesis. Khalifa then enters the game Sonic is in as a 16-bit version of himself after Sonic opens up a ring portal for Khalifa to enter through. He joins Sonic in his running adventures, running across Green Hills picking up gold rings along the way. Lil Yachty, Ty Dolla Sign, and Sueco all join shortly thereafter and joins them as 16-bit versions of themselves as well. All five of them run through several landmarks and areas, including the Giza pyramid complex and the Great Wall of China, while also encountering and attacking Robotnik's weapons and drones at the same time. The video ends with one final cameo from the film showing Sonic and Robotnik dueling on a street in Green Hills, and also shows the four singers playing the same game Khalifa played at the beginning before they are all taken away by Sonic himself.
All four singers performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, with Ty Dolla Sign switching some of the lyrics in the original song that mentioned NBA star LeBron James to dedicate the passing of another NBA star, Kobe Bryant.[5][14][15]
