empowerment". However, he praised Im's "powerhouse vocals" and the song's "uncontainable joy" in "the choruses' sweet yet memorable melody and the vocal harmonies". Le concluded that "Gladiator" could be "another hit single" for Im "that goes hand in hand with her message and image". For the issue dated 18 August 2014, "Gladiator" debuted at number 11 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart and became Im's fifteenth entry on that chart. The song was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association for selling over 35,000 copies. Music video The music video was directed by Young Black Youth and filmed in Sydney in July 2014. A 16-second teaser of the video was uploaded to Im's Vevo account on 4 August 2014. The official video clip was originally scheduled to premiere on 7 August 2014, however it was released the following day. In an interview with Girl.com.au, Im revealed that she intended for the video to be "a lot more stripped back" than her previous music videos because she "wanted people to focus on the message of the song rather than the outfits". The video begins with the caption: "The ancient scrolls tell of a legend. That the one who is pure heart would some day reunite the piece of the sacred medallion, rescue the princess and vanquish evil from the kingdom. A true warrior, a gladiator". It then shows Im growing up and training with her master to become a powerful evil-fighting gladiator and fulfill the prophecy of the ancient scrolls. In between these scenes, Im is shown singing the song's lyrics in a room filled with cherry blossoms, orchids and South Korean historic paintings. Spotlight Report called the video "beautiful", while The Hot Hits described it as "spectacular" and noted that Im looks "stunning" as "she embraces her inner Avatar with scenes involving fire ninjas and water benders". Phillip Kuoch of Hellokpop noted that the clip "is themed around historical Korea" and felt that it reminded him "of Mulan and Avatar combined". Project U's Nathan Pike wrote that the video features "some pretty cool special effects, including water bending, fire bending, an upside-down pyramid and a hologram". Writers for Take 40 Australia thought it was "one of the most beautiful video clips we've seen in a long time". Promotion Im promoted "Gladiator" with radio interviews on Smallzy's Surgery (7 August 2014) and The Bump Show (8 August 2014), and television