"Arms Around You" is a song by American rappers

XXXTentacion Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy (January 23, 1998 – June 18, 2018), known professionally as XXXTentacion, was an American rapper and singer-songwriter. Though a controversial figure due to his widely publicized legal troubles, XXXTentacion gai ...

and

Lil Pump Gazzy Fabio Garcia (born August 17, 2000), known professionally as Lil Pump, is an American rapper. He rose to prominence as part of the SoundCloud rap scene in the late 2010s, gaining distinction for his minimalist music and rambunctious pu ...

featuring Colombian singer

Maluma Juan Luis Londoño Arias (born 28 January 1994), known professionally as Maluma, is a Colombian singer. Born and raised in Medellín, he developed an interest in music at a young age, recording songs since age sixteen. Arias released his debu ...

and fellow American rapper

Swae Lee Khalif Malik Ibn Shaman Brown (born June 7, 1993), known professionally as Swae Lee, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Known for his wide vocal range and genre-bending, Lee first saw mainstream recognition as one half of the Mississ ...

. Released on October 25, 2018, it was written by producer

JonFX John Alexander Crawford (born May 31, 1983), professionally known as JonFX, is a music producer from St. Andrews, Jamaica. He has worked with dancehall and reggae artists Shabba Ranks, I Wayne, Vybz Kartel, Gyptian and Akon, as well as late rap ...

and later sung by Rio Santana. Additional lyrics for Maluma were written by engineer

Edge Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...

, JonFX, and fellow producers

Skrillex Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ, record producer, musician, singer. Raised in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he began his career in 2004 as the lead vocalist of the ...

and Mally Mall.

Background

The track was originally written and recorded in 2017 with Rio Santana, who appeared on XXXTentacion's '' ?'' album, but after his death, 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 ''Rap-Up'' is a magazine launched in 2001 by founder Devin Lazerine. The publication was originally a website devoted to hip hop, until Lazerine decided to pitch the possibility of a magazine to several publishers. The magazine is focused on the ...

'' called the track a "global crossover track" featuring "Latin, alternative, hip-hop and pop influences". Michael Saponara of ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' wrote that XXXTentacion "implements an intoxicating flow mixed with some Spanish over the Mally Mall, Jon FX, handling the

reggaeton Reggaeton (, ) is a modern style of popular music, popular and electronic music that originated in Panamanian reggaetón, Panama during the late 1980s, and which rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s through a plethora of Puert ...

-tinged track's chorus duties". C. Vernon Coleman II of '' XXL'' also felt the track had a "reggaeton feel", with Pump "stunt ngheavy as usual" and Swae Lee delivering a "rosy verse". In addition, Winston Cook-Wilson of ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'' called the track "house-inflected". While Ben Kaye of ''

Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. History ''Consequence of Sound'' was founded in Septem ...

'' 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 someone, Kaye said a recently released recording features him "confessing to multiple violent crimes including assaulting his girlfriend and stabbing eight people", though this interpretation of the recording was disputed. Brendan Klinkenberg of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' 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 Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

and previewed the track on his

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

, but later deleted the post. ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' noted that the post featured the hashtag "#LLJ" which stands for "Long Live Jahseh", XXXTentacion's real first 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. *

– vocals, composition *

– vocals, composition * Edgar Barrera – composition, engineer * Rio Santana – composition *

– production, composition, instrumentation, mix engineer * Mally Mall – production, instrumentation *

– production, instrumentation * Rashawn Mclean – assistant mix engineer * Mike Seaberg – assistant mix engineer * Jacob Richards – assistant mix engineer * Brandon Brown – assistant mix engineer * Gerald Yusuf – recording engineer *

Koen Heldens Koen Heldens is a Dutch-born mix engineer international multi-platinum, American Music Award- and Billboard Music Award-winning mixing engineer. Early life and education Originally from the Netherlands, Heldens began music school at the age of ...

– mix engineer * Tom Norris – mix engineer *

Jaycen Joshua Jaycen Joshua is an American audio engineer based in California. He won three Grammy Awards: the first for mixing ''Growing Pains'' for Mary J. Blige in 2007, followed by '' El mal querer'' for Rosalía in 2018, and ''Hyperspace'' for Beck in ...

– mix engineer * Dave Kutch – mastering engineer * Gil Corber – A&R consultant * Eesean Bolden – A&R

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

* {{authority control 2018 singles 2018 songs XXXTentacion songs Lil Pump songs Maluma songs Swae Lee songs Song recordings produced by Skrillex Songs released posthumously Songs written by Swae Lee Songs written by XXXTentacion Songs written by Edgar Barrera Songs written by Lil Pump Songs written by Maluma (singer) Songs written by Skrillex Music controversies Electronic dance music songs Dancehall songs Empire Distribution singles