"Around the World" is a song by American recording artist Christina Aguilera from her seventh studio album, Lotus. 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, Aguilera filed for divorce from her husband Jordan Bratman, starred in the film Burlesque, and recorded. She then became a coach on NBC's singing competition show The Voice and appeared as a featured artist on Maroon 5's single "Moves like Jagger", which spent four weeks atop the US BillboardHot 100 chart. 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. 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, having had a divorce ... This is all sort of a free rebirth for me." She further said "I'm embracing many different things, but it's all feel-good, super-expressive super-vulnerable." 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. 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".
Recording and composition
"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. It is a pop song with a ragga flavour, and runs for a duration of three minutes and 24 seconds. Its instrumentation contains crashing drums and "a thumping bassline". According to Chris Younie from 4Music, the song's chorus is "insanely catchy". Lyrically, it talks about Christina wanting to have sexual intercourse with someone in different locations around the world, including Hollywood and Japan. The track also refers to her 2001 hit "Lady Marmalade", where Aguilera whispers the lyrics "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?".
Critical reception
"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". The Scotsman critic Fiona Sheperd wrote that the song has "the most resounding chorus on the album". 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". Writing on behalf of The New York Times, Jon Caramanica called it "gauche and aesthetically vulgar in the way Ms. Aguilera once proudly was". 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". Sam Hine of Popjustice called it "pop filler" and "it prompts his headache to really kick in". 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". T'cha Dunlevy, a writer for the Montreal Gazette, agreed with EMpire's sentiments, calling it "a blatant Rihanna ripoff". Annie Zaleschi of The A.V. Club echoed the same thought, calling it a "Rihanna reject".
Credits and personnel
;Recording
Vocals recorded at The Red Lips Room, Beverly Hills, California
;Personnel
Songwriting – Christina Aguilera, Dwanye Chin-Quee, Jason Gilbert, Ali Tamposi
