Arms Around You


"Arms Around You" is a collaborative single by American rappers XXXTentacion and Lil Pump featuring Colombian singer Maluma and American rapper Swae Lee. It was released on October 25, 2018, and is produced by Skrillex, Maaly Raw, JonFX.

Background

The track was originally written and recorded in 2017 with Rio Santana, who appeared on Onfroy's ? album, but after Jahseh passed away the label took over and added other co-features. Lil Pump contacted XXXTentacion's mother Cleopatra Bernard after his death to ask if he could make a song to "honor his legacy", which resulted in the collaboration.

Critical reception

Rap-Up called the track a "global crossover track" featuring "Latin, alternative, hip-hop and pop influences". Michael Saponara of Billboard wrote that XXXTentacion "implements an intoxicating flow mixed with some Spanish over the Mally Mall, Jon FX, handling the reggaeton-tinged track's chorus duties". C. Vernon Coleman II of XXL also felt the track had a "reggaeton feel", with Pump "stunt heavy as usual" and Swae Lee delivering a "rosy verse". In addition, Winston Cook-Wilson of Spin called the track "house-inflected".
While Ben Kaye of Consequence of Sound labeled it a "Latin-flavored club jam", he also stated that the timing of its release was "a bit of cringeworthy irony" with XXXTentacion's line in the chorus about protecting his girlfriend, as a recently released recording features him "confessing to multiple violent crimes including assaulting his girlfriend and stabbing eight people". Brendan Klinkenberg of Rolling Stone felt that the song is "bland, Latin-inflected pop that reflects none of the talents of its four collaborators" and also called it "a mish-mash of vague pop-in-2018 signifiers without cohering into any sort of artistic statement".

Promotion

initially teased the track on Twitter and previewed the track on his Instagram, but later deleted the post. NME noted that the post featured the hashtag "#LLJ" which stands for "Long Live Jahseh", which was XXXTentacion's real name.

Music video

A music video for "Arms Around You" was released on November 16, 2018. It was directed by James Lerese and features an animated XXXTentacion.

Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications