"Chocolate" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Kylie Minogue | ||||
from the album Body Language | ||||
B-side |
| |||
Released | 28 June 2004 | |||
Recorded | 2003; 2004 (single version) | |||
Studio | El Cortijo (Marbella, Spain) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length |
| |||
Label | ||||
Songwriter(s) |
| |||
Producer(s) | Johnny Douglas | |||
Kylie Minogue singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Music video | ||||
"Chocolate" on YouTube |
"Chocolate" is a song by Australian recording artist Kylie Minogue, taken from her ninth studio album Body Language (2003). It was written and produced by Johnny Douglas, with additional writing by Karen Poole. The song is a ballad that uses a chocolate simile to describe Minogue's obsession with love. It is a quiet storm song that contains elements of disco and funk and employs breathy and whispery vocals. It was released as the third and final single from the album on 28 June 2004 by Festival Mushroom Records and Parlophone.
Critical reception towards "Chocolate" was mixed; some critics favoured its commercial appeal and Minogue's vocals, while some criticised it for being dated. In Australia, the song failed to reach the top 10, peaking at number 14. It charted higher in the United Kingdom, where it became Minogue's 27th top-10 hit after it debuted at number six on the UK Singles Chart. The single also charted inside the top 20 in Hungary and Italy.
A music video for "Chocolate" was directed by Dawn Shadforth and was envisioned as a tribute to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals. It chiefly features Minogue and numerous backup dancers in a hall, performing a dance routine choreographed by Michael Rooney. The song was performed live by Minogue at the one-off concert show Money Can't Buy and TV show Top of the Pops . "Chocolate" was included on the setlist of the singer's Showgirl: The Greatest Hits and Showgirl: The Homecoming tours.
Following the global success of her eighth studio album Fever , Minogue began working on her ninth studio album Body Language . [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. The duo wrote "Chocolate" together, while Douglas also handled the production of the song. According to Minogue's official website, "Chocolate" was one of her favorites from the album. [8] In an interview, producer Johnny Douglas stated that an original version of the song was to feature rapper Ludacris. Information about the collaboration leaked online in a Kylie forum, it appeared that fans did not want Kylie to collaborate with Ludacris. Fearing backlash of her fans, the rap was removed from the final version of the song. With the rap being removed, Johnny Douglas had to come up with a section for Kylie to sing in place of the rap. 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. [9] It was selected as the third single from Body Language and was released globally on 28 June 2004 by Festival Mushroom Records and Parlophone. The Maxi CD version of the single contains the B-side "City Games", which was one of the first tracks recorded for the album. [8] [10]
"Chocolate" is a ballad that borrows influences from numerous genres including disco, [1] quiet storm [3] [2] and funk music. [2] Minogue's vocals are synthesised and are delivered in a breathy and whispery manner. [4] [5] [11] According to music magazine Spin , the song describes Minogue's "addiction to love" through a chocolate simile. [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] Helen Pidd from The Guardian found the lyrics to be "packed with saccharine innuendo." [5]
The A.V. Club critic Andy Battaglia felt the ballad was successful in terms of execution and described it as "a breeze of finger-snap funk." [2] Adrien Begrand from PopMatters singled it out as a highlight from the second half of Body Language, commenting that it "keeps the last half of the album from being a complete waste of time." [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." [5] Spin magazine criticised the vocals for being over-processed and the lyrics for lacking substance. The magazine also felt that the theme of the song had already been covered by "minor artists" like American singer–songwriter Mandy Moore. [4]
Retrospective critical reviews of "Chocolate" have been favourable. 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". [13] Writing for the Herald Sun , Cameron Adams placed it at number 45 on his list of the singer's best songs in honour of her 50th birthday, calling it "the most breathless of all her songs — she sounds like she recorded it after running around the block five times. Yet it's still ultra sexy — Kylie's never crossed the line from sexy to skanky and it's an increasingly fine line". [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". [15]
In Minogue's native Australia, "Chocolate" debuted and peaked at number 14 on the ARIA Singles Chart, becoming her first single since "Your Disco Needs You" (2001) to miss the top 10. Its chart run was brief and lasted for four weeks. [16] Similarly, it entered the top 20 of the Italian Singles Chart at number 14 and dropped out the next week. [17] The single was more successful in the United Kingdom, entering and peaking at number six on the UK Singles Chart and spending a total of seven weeks inside the top 100; it became Minogue's 27th top-ten hit in the country. [18]
The music video for "Chocolate" was directed by Dawn Shadforth, while the dance sequences were choreographed by Michael Rooney. Shadforth and Rooney had previously worked with Minogue on the video of her 2001 single "Can't Get You Out of My Head". The video was conceptualised as a tribute to old musicals produced by American media company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. [8] It featured a 40-second long ballet routine for which Minogue was coached by Rooney for four days. She admitted that the practice sessions were exhausting, but felt the final product became "classy" as a result. [20] The singer felt "lucky" to be able to incorporate a ballet routine in the video and opined that it was "a lot different" from the rest of her repertoire. [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. [20] At the 10th Annual American Choreography Awards in 2004, Rooney was nominated for the "Outstanding Achievement in Choreography – Music Video" award for "Chocolate". [21]
The video begins with a shot of Minogue posing in a dark room, dressed in a sparkling costume on which rainbow-lighting is projected. She is then shown in front of a wall wearing a flowing maroon dress. 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. The singer's attire consists of a pleated red organza dress designed by Austrian fashion designer Helmut Lang (in 2006, Minogue donated this costume to the Arts Centre Melbourne museum, where it is displayed in the Kylie Minogue Collection). [19] Shots of the dancers in kaleidoscopic arrangements are intercut. A few seconds later, Minogue and a man dance together alone in a hall. Their dance ends with the man slowly laying Minogue down on the floor and leaving. 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. She proceeds to wave to a distant person and then plucks the petals out of a pink rose she is holding. The rest of the video randomly intersperses all of the previous scenes. [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. [23] "Chocolate" was included on the set list of the concert and was performed during the second act "Bardello". [24] On 25 June 2004, Minogue appeared on British music chart television programme Top of the Pops to perform the song live. [25] She sang "Chocolate" for the second time on the programme on 9 July. [26]
"Chocolate" was included on the set list of Minogue's Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour in 2005. [27] Minogue was unable to complete the tour as she was diagnosed with early breast cancer and had to cancel the Australian leg of the tour. [28] After undergoing treatment and recovery, she resumed the concert tour in the form of Showgirl: The Homecoming Tour in 2006, and "Chocolate" was again added to the set list. [29]
"Love at First Sight" was recorded live at Hammersmith Apollo on 15 November 2003.
|
|
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Body Language is the ninth studio album by Australian singer Kylie Minogue. It was released on 10 November 2003 by Parlophone. Following the commercial success of her eighth studio album Fever (2001), Minogue enlisted a diverse group of writers and producers to aid in creating a new album, including Cathy Dennis, Dan Carey, Emiliana Torrini, Johnny Douglas, and Kurtis Mantronik among others. Influenced by the musical works of the 1980s and artists like Prince and Scritti Politti, Body Language musically differs from Minogue's previous albums, which mainly featured disco-oriented dance-pop tracks, and instead explores genres like synth-pop, electroclash, R&B, and hip hop. Lyrically, the album touches upon themes of flirtation, romance, introspection and heartbreak.
Ultimate Kylie is the second major greatest hits album by Australian singer Kylie Minogue, and her first greatest hits released under her contract with Parlophone, her record company between 1999–2015. The compilation was released in many different formats including a two-disc edition and a deluxe double disc with a bonus DVD. A separate compilation DVD with the same name, was released to accompany the audio versions. The album includes two new tracks; its lead single, "I Believe in You", and the second single, "Giving You Up". A third track, "Made of Glass", was recorded for the album but not used; it was included on the physical releases of "Giving You Up".
"Can't Get You Out of My Head" is a song recorded by Australian singer Kylie Minogue for her eighth studio album, Fever (2001). Parlophone Records released the song as the album's lead single on 8 September 2001. "Can't Get You Out of My Head", which was written and produced by Cathy Dennis and Rob Davis, is a dance-pop, techno-pop and nu-disco song that is known for its "la la la" hook. Its lyrics are about obsession with a love interest. Music critics praised the song's production and Minogue's vocals and labelled it a highlight of Fever.
"Come into My World" is a song recorded by Australian singer Kylie Minogue for her eighth studio album, Fever (2001). Written and produced by Cathy Dennis and Rob Davis, "Come into My World" is a dance-pop song in which the singer pleads to her lover to come into her world. "Come into My World" was released as the fourth and final single from Fever on 4 November 2002.
"Love at First Sight" is a song by Australian singer Kylie Minogue from her eighth studio album, Fever (2001). It was released as the third single from Fever on 3 June 2002. The song, which was written by Minogue, Richard Stannard, Julian Gallagher, Ash Howes and Martin Harrington, is unrelated to the song of the same name from Minogue's debut studio album, Kylie (1988). Musically, "Love at First Sight" is a dance-pop and nu-disco song which, lyrically, describes the singer falling and believing in love at first sight.
"On a Night Like This" is a song by Australian recording artist Kylie Minogue. It was released on 11 September 2000 by Parlophone and Mushroom Records as the second single for her seventh studio album, Light Years (2000), and was distributed in various formats. The track was originally recorded by Swedish singer Pandora and written by Steve Torch, Brian Rawling, Graham Stack, and Mark Taylor, while production was handled by the latter two, it was handed to Minogue to record. Musically, "On a Night Like This" is a Europop, dance-pop and house song that also incorporates elements of disco. Its lyrical content delves into experiencing unique, possibly sexual experiences during the night.
"Spinning Around" is a song by Australian singer Kylie Minogue for her seventh studio album, Light Years (2000). Written by Ira Shickman, Osborne Bingham, Kara DioGuardi and Paula Abdul, the song was initially meant to be recorded by Abdul for her own album, but was given to Minogue after the plan never came to fruition. Produced by Mike Spencer, the disco-influenced dance-pop song was then released in Australia and the UK as the lead single from Light Years on 19 June 2000, through Mushroom Records and Parlophone. Lyrically, the song addresses the theme of reinvention, with Minogue claiming that she has changed as a person and learned from the past.
"In Your Eyes" is a song by Australian singer Kylie Minogue, taken from her eighth studio album, Fever (2001). It was written by Minogue, Richard Stannard, Julian Gallagher, and Ash Howes and produced by Stannard and Gallagher. It is a dance-pop song and talks about sexual temptation. The song was released in Australia on 21 January 2002 as the second single from the album. In Europe, it was delayed from a January release due to the success of "Can't Get You Out of My Head", and it was eventually issued on 18 February 2002 by Parlophone.
"I Believe in You" is a song by Australian singer Kylie Minogue for her ninth greatest hits compilation, Ultimate Kylie (2004). It was written by Minogue alongside its producers Jake Shears and Babydaddy. It was released as the lead single from Ultimate Kylie on 29 November 2004, by Parlophone. "I Believe in You" is a pop and Euro disco song in which Minogue proclaims there are many things in which she does not believe, but that she does believe in her lover.
"Slow" is a song by Australian singer Kylie Minogue from her ninth studio album, Body Language (2003). It was released as the lead single from the album by Festival Mushroom Records and Parlophone on 3 November 2003. The song was written by Minogue, Dan Carey, Emilíana Torrini, and produced by Carey, Torrini, and Sunnyroads. "Slow" is an electropop and synth-pop song in which Minogue invites a man to "slow down" and dance with her.
"Hand on Your Heart" is a song by Australian singer Kylie Minogue from her second studio album, Enjoy Yourself (1989), and released as its lead single on 24 April 1989. Much like her previous releases up to Let's Get to It (1991), the song was written and produced by English songwriting and record production trio Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW). Referenced tracks during composition included "This Old Heart of Mine" by the Isley Brothers and "That's the Way Love Is" by Ten City.
"Please Stay" is a song by Australian singer and songwriter Kylie Minogue for her seventh studio album, Light Years (2000). The song was written by Minogue, Richard Stannard, Julian Gallagher, and John Themis and was produced by Stannard and Gallagher. Festival Mushroom Records and Parlophone released the song as the fourth single from Light Years on 11 December 2000. "Please Stay" is a disco song with a strong Latin pop influence. The song received generally positive reviews from music critics.
"Giving You Up" is a song by Australian singer and songwriter Kylie Minogue for her third greatest hits album Ultimate Kylie (2004). The song was first released as the album's second and final single on 28 March 2005. It was co-written by Minogue with Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins, Tim Powell, Lisa Cowling, Paul Woods, and Nick Coler, while production was by Higgins and Xenomania. The song is an electropop track, which features instrumentation of synthesizers and keyboards, whilst the lyrics talk about the thrills of a new romance. The track was her last solo single before she was diagnosed with breast cancer two months later; her next single was "2 Hearts" in 2007.
"Red Blooded Woman" is a song recorded by Australian singer Kylie Minogue for her ninth studio album, Body Language (2003). Written by Johnny Douglas and Karen Poole and produced by the former, it is a hip hop and synth-pop track containing a vocoded "Boy! Boy!" hook and backing vocals from a choir, and was released by Parlophone as the second single from the album on 1 March 2004.
Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour was the eighth concert tour by Australian singer Kylie Minogue. It was launched in support of her second major greatest hits compilation, Ultimate Kylie (2004) and visited Europe. It began on 19 March 2005 in Glasgow, Scotland at SECC Concert Hall 4 and concluded on 7 May 2005 in London, England at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre. The tour was announced on 24 October 2004, promoted by 3A Entertainment in Europe and Frontier Touring in Asia and Australia. Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour was intended to be a celebration of both Minogue's career and long-term relationship with her audience.
"Step Back in Time" is a song by Australian singer Kylie Minogue from her third studio album, Rhythm of Love (1990). It was released as the album's second single on 22 October 1990, and distributed by PWL and Mushroom as a CD single, cassette tape and 12-inch and 7-inch singles. The track was written, arranged, and produced by Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, Pete Waterman, who are collectively known as Stock Aitken and Waterman, and was recorded in London, United Kingdom. Musically, it is a disco song that lyrically pays tribute to 1970s' culture.
Money Can't Buy was a one-off, 75-minute concert show held on 15 November 2003 at the Carling Apollo in London to promote Australian singer Kylie Minogue's ninth studio album Body Language (2003). Its title alludes to the fact that tickets were not for sale and limited to invited guests and competition winners. The total cost of staging the concert was £1 million. William Baker and Alan MacDonald served as creative and art directors, respectively, while Michael Rooney and Steve Anderson worked on the choreography and musical arrangements.
"Two Hearts", alternatively titled "2 Hearts", is a song first recorded by British electronic duo Kish Mauve, written for their 2005 self-titled extended play and later re-recorded by Australian singer Kylie Minogue for her tenth studio album, X (2007). Both versions were written and produced by Jim Eliot and Mima Stilwell. Minogue's version was released on 9 November 2007 by Parlophone as the album's lead single. The song was Minogue's first commercial single since "Giving You Up" (2005), as she was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2005. After the announcement, Minogue took a hiatus between of two years to recover from her illness.
"In My Arms" is a song recorded by Australian singer Kylie Minogue for her tenth studio album X (2007). It was written by Minogue, Paul Harris, Julian Peake, and its producers Calvin Harris and Richard "Biff" Stannard. The song was released as the third single from X on 13 February 2008, by Parlophone.
"All the Lovers" is a song recorded by Australian recording artist Kylie Minogue for her eleventh studio album, Aphrodite (2010). It was released by Parlophone on 11 June 2010 as the lead single from the album. The song was written by Jim Eliot and Mima Stilwell and produced by the former; Stuart Price, provided additional production. "All the Lovers" started out as a midtempo song with influences of electropop music. The lyrics of the song serve as an invitation to the dance floor and an assertion that Minogue's past relationships do not "compare" to the one she shares with her present lover.