An accompanying music video directed by Chris Applebaum, portrays Victoria's Secret Angel model Chanel Iman as Usher's love interest, showing them being intimate and having sex in several scenes.

The song debuted at number 50 on the South Korea Gaon International Chart, with sales of 6,546 digital copies.

[3][4][5] Chuck Arnold of People complimented Usher's falsetto on both "Dive" and lead single "Climax", adding that the songs show"that he's a "better singer than ever".

[6] Trent Fitzgerald of PopCrush perceived that the song's lyrics "metaphorically compares love to the crashing waters of the ocean".

[3] Carrie Battan of Pitchfork interpreted the lyrics as "explicit" which might "make you cringe if they'd come from of anyone else" in the line: "It's raining inside your bed/ No parts are dry/ Lovin' made you so wet/ Your Legs/ Your thighs".

[7] Erika Ramirez of Billboard also saw the song as a success, writing that it is "slower and more sensual" than Jim Jonsin and Rico Love's "Motivation" (2011) performed by Kelly Rowland.

[9] Pitchfork's Carry Battan wrote that Usher's "vocal mastery" allows him to turn the chorus of "Dive"—which she viewed as "cornball"—into something "more specific, as if he were addressing just one woman [...]".

[11] Set on a luxury yacht in the open sea,[12] the video begins with Usher talking, before showing him singing the first verse.