[6] Aiming to create a dance-pop album inspired by electronic music from the 1980s,[7] Minogue enlisted collaborators such as Johnny Douglas (who had previously worked with her on Light Years) and Karen Poole.

Co-writer Karen Poole was not in the studio, therefore Johnny had to create a new section himself as Kylie Minogue was to finish recording the song that afternoon.

[4] PopMatters critic Adrien Begrand called its lyrics "steamy", citing the line "Hold me and control me and then/ Melt me slowly down" as an example.

"[12] Favouring Minogue's vocal performance, Eric Seguy from Stylus Magazine wrote: "Kylie proves herself to be a consummate entertainer, breezing through the chill muzak of "Promises" and "Chocolate"'s wild disco jam with equal ease.

"[1] Slant Magazine editor Sal Cinquemani likened Minogue's vocals to that of British electronic music duo Mono and felt the tone of the song resembled the "gauzy melancholy" of Madonna's 1994 album Bedtime Stories.

[11] A mixed review came from The Guardian critic Helen Pidd, who acknowledged the song's commercial appeal but felt it "sounds too dated to pack any punch in the age of Beyoncé and Missy Elliott.

Writing in The Monthly in 2021, Lesley Chow described the song, along with Body Language's lead single "Slow", as "surely two of the most riveting marriages of art and music ever produced", adding that "with these releases, Kylie and her team became part of an unlikely vanguard in pop".

[14] Guillermo Alonso, from the Spanish edition of Vanity Fair, said that "if there was a successful R&B approach [made by the singer] in the 21st century, it was undoubtedly 'Chocolate', a sophisticated, sensual and enveloping song".

[20] Julie Aspinall, author of the book Kylie: Queen of the World, wrote that Minogue adopted a "Gallic chic style" for the video.

[20] Aspinall felt that Minogue "absolutely looked the part" and suggested it was due to her being influenced by then-boyfriend Olivier Martinez, a French actor.

As the intro ends and the first verse commences, Minogue appears in a hall and performs various dance routine with numerous female dancers clad in nude bodysuits.

Twelve women in golden and pastel pink dresses are seen dancing on a dark brown floor, which is revealed to be Minogue's hat as the camera pans out.

[22] Complimenting the video's cinematography, arts and music writer Lesley Chow described it as "a deliriously romantic vision of surrender", adding: "Shadforth's depiction of warm bodies in a sensual world must be one of the most compelling realisations of the female gaze on film.

"[13] A one-off concert show, Money Can't Buy, was held at entertainment venue Hammersmith Apollo, London, on 15 November 2003 to promote Body Language.