Virginia Heffernan of "The New York Times" praised the video as being "clever", "brave", and "sexually restless" with "adventures in exhibitionism [that] often seem to involve relatively small patches of skin, coupled with raunchy gyrations". She compared the video's theme of "orgiastic dancing by candlelight" to the Northeast blackout of 2003, using the "civics lesson" of a dancer winding a copper wire from a stereo system around a car battery to generate power in an abandoned building. Hefferanan concluded that the "lo-fi" choreography of the clip is in opposition to making "a gaudy show of her rapport with her dancers". "The New York Blade" considered it "certainly provocative", as "Jackson and her dancers get hot and heavy with one another to the song's thumping, infectious beat", while "King Magazine" placed the video as third on their list of "Favorite Janet Jackson Videos", describing it as "lots of writhing". The video received several nominations on awards, such as the 20th Annual International Dance Music Awards, in the category of "Best Dance Video" and "Best Choreography", MVPA Awards for "Best Choreography", with its director Francis Laurence being nominated for "Best Direction of a Female Artist" and winning "Director of the Year", for multiple videos including "All Nite (Don't Stop)".