Around the World (Christina Aguilera song)

"Around the World"
Song by Christina Aguilera from the album Lotus
Format Digital download
Recorded 2012
Genre Pop
Length 3:24
Label RCA
Writer Christina Aguilera, Dwayne Chin-Quee, Jason Gilbert, Ali Tamposi
Producer Supa Dups, Jason Gilbert

"Around the World" is a song by American recording artist Christina Aguilera from her seventh studio album, Lotus (2012). It was written by Aguilera and Ali Tamposi and was co-written and produced by Supa Dups and Jason Gilbert. The song is an uptempo pop track, with crashing drums and a thumping bassline. The song is about how Aguilera wants to make love in different countries around the world with her lover. It also refers to her 2001 single "Lady Marmalade", where she whispers the lyrics "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, se soir?". "Around the World" received mixed reviews from music critics; some thought it was fun, while others felt it was faceless. Upon the release of Lotus, the song debuted and peaked at number 158 on the South Korean International singles chart.

Background

Following the release of her sixth studio album, Bionic (2010),[1] Aguilera filed for divorce from her husband Jordan Bratman, starred in her first feature film, Burlesque and recorded the accompanying soundtrack.[2] She then became a coach on NBC's singing competition show The Voice[2] and appeared as a featured artist on Maroon 5's single "Moves like Jagger" (2011), which spent four weeks atop the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.[3] Following these events, Aguilera announced that had plans to begin production of her seventh album, stating that she wanted high quality and "personal" songs for the record.[3] Regarding the creative direction, she revealed that the album would be a "culmination of everything I've experienced up until this point ... I've been through a lot since the release of my last album, being on ('The Voice'), having had a divorce ... This is all sort of a free rebirth for me."[4] She further said "I'm embracing many different things, but it's all feel-good, super-expressive [and] super-vulnerable."[4] Aguilera continued to say that the album would be about "self–expression and freedom" because of the personal struggles she had overcome during the last couple of years.[5] Speaking about her new material during an interview on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 2012, Aguilera said that the recording process for Lotus was taking a while because "I don't like to just get songs from producers. I like them to come from a personal place ... I'm very excited. It's fun, exciting, introspective, it's going to be great".[6]

Recording and composition
"Around the World"
An 19 second sample of "Around the World".
Problems playing this file? See media help.

"Around the World" was co-written by Aguilera with Dwayne Chin-Quee, Jason Gilbert and Ali Thompson. It was produced by Supa Dups and it was co-produced by Gilbert. Aguilera's vocals were recorded at The Red Lips Room in Beverly Hills, California by Oscar Ramirez.[7] It is a pop song with a ragga flavour, and runs for a duration of three minutes and 24 seconds.[8][9] Its instrumentation contains crashing drums and "a thumping bassline".[10] According to Chris Younie from 4Music, the song's chorus is "insanely catchy".[10] Lyrically, it talks about Christina wanting to have sexual intercourse with someone in different locations around the world, including Hollywood and Japan.[10][11] The track also refers to her 2001 hit "Lady Marmalade", where Aguilera whispers the lyrics "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?".[12]

Critical reception

"Around the World" received comparisons to songs recorded by Rihanna.[13][14][15]

"Around the World" received generally mixed reviews from music critics. Chris Younie of 4Music gave the song a favorable review, calling it a "party-like song of lust and desire" and has "an insanely catchy chorus".[10] The Scotsman critic Fiona Sheperd wrote that the song has "the most resounding chorus on the album".[8] Mike Wass of Idolator gave it a mix review, writing it is "another inoffensive adventure that scores extra points for quoting lyrics from 'Lady Marmalade'", however it "lacks the big pop hook need to wreak havoc on the charts".[16] Writing on behalf of The New York Times, Jon Caramanica called it "gauche and aesthetically vulgar in the way Ms. Aguilera once proudly was".[17]

Andrew Hampp of Billboard was mixed, writing that, "Sadly, the second-verse reference to 'Lady Marmalade' remains one of the few moments of fun on this otherwise tepid track".[18] Michael Gallucci of PopCrush called it "a faceless dance track built around another solid beat", but also commenting, "Aguilera's insistence on singing part of the song with Lionel Richie's 'All Night Long (All Night)' island accent is totally misguided".[19] Sam Hine of Popjustice called it "pop filler" and "it prompts his headache to really kick in".[11] Several critics compared "Around the World" to songs performed by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna. Kitty Empire of The Observer called it a "come-hither tune", also writing that it is a "Rihanna-copping".[13] T'cha Dunlevy, a writer for the Montreal Gazette, agreed with EMpire's sentiments, calling it "a blatant Rihanna ripoff".[14] Annie Zaleschi of The A.V. Club echoed the same thought, calling it a "Rihanna reject".[15]

Credits and personnel

Recording
Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Lotus, RCA Records.[7]

Charts

Upon the release of Lotus, "Around the World" debuted on the South Korean International download singles chart at number 158 during the week of November 11 to 17, 2012, due to digital download sales of 1,958.[20]

Chart (2012) Peak
position
South Korea (Gaon)[20] 158

References

  1. ↑ Bain, Becky (August 23, 2012). "Christina Aguilera's Demo Of New Single 'Your Body' Surfaces: Listen". Idolator (Buzz Media). Retrieved September 14, 2012.
  2. 1 2 Hampp, Andrew (September 21, 2012). "Christina Aguilera: Billboard Cover Story". Billboard (Prometheus Global Media). Retrieved September 23, 2012.
  3. 1 2 Schneider, Marc (April 11, 2012). "Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Hit the Studio". Billboard (Prometheus Global Media). Retrieved September 14, 2012.
  4. 1 2 Elber, Lynn (August 28, 2012). "Christina Aguilera: New album is a 'rebirth'". Yahoo! Music (Yahoo!). Retrieved September 14, 2012.
  5. ↑ Kennedy, Gerrick D. (September 13, 2012). "Christina Aguilera readies new album 'Lotus'". Los Angeles Times (Eddy Hartenstein). Retrieved October 5, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Christina Aguilera: 'New album is quality over quantity'". Digital Spy (Hearst Corporation). May 27, 2012. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
  7. 1 2 Lotus (inlay cover). Christina Aguilera. RCA Records. 2012. p. iTunes Digital Booklet.
  8. 1 2 Shephard, Fiona (November 12, 2012). "Album review – Christina Aguilera – Lotus". The Scotsman (Edinburgh). Retrieved December 1, 2012.
  9. ↑ "iTunes – Music – Lotus by Christina Aguilera". iTunes Store (GB). Apple. November 9, 2012. Retrieved November 24, 2012.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Younie, Chris (November 2, 2012). "News: Review: Christina Aguilera - Lotus". 4Music (Channel 4). Retrieved November 2, 2012.
  11. 1 2 Hine, Sam (November 13, 2012). "Christina's 'Lotus': a review". Popjustice. Retrieved February 3, 2013.
  12. ↑ Copsey, Robert (November 2, 2012). "Christina Aguilera's new album 'Lotus': First listen". Digital Spy (Hearst Corporation). Retrieved November 2, 2012.
  13. 1 2 Empire, Kitty (November 10, 2012). "Christina Aguilera: Lotus – review". The Observer (London). The New Review section, p. 29. Retrieved November 17, 2012.
  14. 1 2 Dunlevy, T'cha (November 12, 2012). "New music review: Lotus, Christina Aguilera (RCA/Sony)". The Gazette (Montreal). Retrieved February 6, 2013.
  15. 1 2 Zaleski, Annie (November 13, 2012). "Christina Aguilera: Lotus". The A.V. Club (Chicago: The Onion, Inc). Retrieved November 17, 2012.
  16. ↑ Wass, Mike (November 13, 2012). "Christina Aguilera's 'Lotus': Album Review". Idolator (Buzz Media). Retrieved December 9, 2012.
  17. ↑ Caramanica, Jon; Pareles, Jon; Ratliff, Ben (November 13, 2012). "Albums by Christina Aguilera, Soundgarden and Brian Eno". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). p. 34. Retrieved November 17, 2012.
  18. ↑ Hampp, Andrew (November 12, 2012). "Christina Aguilera, 'Lotus': Track-By-Track Review". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved November 27, 2012.
  19. ↑ Gallucci, Michael (November 2012). "Christina Aguilera, 'Lotus' - Album Review". PopCrush. Retrieved November 29, 2012.
  20. 1 2 "Gaon International Download Chart". Gaon Music Chart (in Korean). Korea Music Content Industry Association. November 11–17, 2012. Retrieved December 16, 2013.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, November 21, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.