"Right Round" is a single performed by American rapper Flo Rida featuring guest vocals from American singer Kesha. It was released as the lead single from his second studio album, R.O.O.T.S. (2009). It was released to radio on January 27, 2009 and was digitally released on February 10 by Poe Boy Entertainment and Atlantic Records. The song heavily interpolates the chorus of the Dead or Alive song "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" in its hook. According to one of the song's writers, the chorus refers to a stripper. Kesha contributed guest vocals to the song, but was uncredited in the United States and Canada during its run atop the charts.
Despite receiving mostly negative reviews, with critics claiming it was kitschy and misogynistic, the song was a commercial success, reaching the top ten of the music charts in nineteen countries worldwide. In the United States, it became Flo Rida's second number-one single (staying at number-one for six consecutive weeks) and broke the record for first-week sales (636,000 downloads) when it was released to digital retailers; eventually, this record was broken by Adele's "Hello", which sold 1.11 million copies in its first week. The single's accompanying music video was directed by Malcolm Jones and nominated for an MTV Video Music Award. The song has been used in several movies, such as The Hangover, The Ugly Truth, Pilla Zamindar and Pitch Perfect, where the song is performed by the film's a cappella group The Treblemakers. The song is one of the best-selling singles of the digital era, with over 12 million certified downloads sold, making it Flo Rida's best selling single, and Kesha's second.
Background and recording
"Right Round" was written by Flo Rida, Dr. Luke, Kool Kojak, DJ Frank E, Philip Lawrence, Bruno Mars, Aaron Bay-Schuck, and Dead or Alive, the band whose 1984 song "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" is sampled in the chorus. The track was produced by Dr. Luke and Kool Kojak and features guest vocals from American pop singer Kesha, (who was not credited on the American release of the single). At the end of 2008, Luke was working on a track with Flo Rida called "Right Round" and the two decided they needed a female hook. Luke pulled Kesha into the studio to record the vocals. According to Flo Rida, the song is about "a young lady, she might be in the strip club and she's got my head spinning round, [...] Or any young lady that I might see walking past me that's getting my attention. She got it going on! I'm going crazy over her."
Flo Rida explained that he listened to "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" and similar records growing up as a result of the varying music genres his seven sisters listened to. Ultimately, his A&R Aaron Bay-Schuck came up with the idea to sample "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)" in a song. Bay-Schuck told HitQuarters that he had been listening to a shuffle beat produced by DJ Frank E on a CD of potential beats and had kept hearing in his head the melody of the Dead or Alive song over the top of it. Co-A&R Mike Caren then brought the sample to the attention of Flo Rida.
As R.O.O.T.S. was Flo Rida's second studio album, he wanted to show listeners musical growth by "broaden[ing] my horizons," which was why he decided to record the song. After Luke produced the sample, the song was recorded. In the same night the song was written Aaron Bay-Schuck, Bruno Mars and Philip Lawrance decided to go to the studio and make the initial recording. It was recorded primarily at Conway Studios in Hollywood, California, with additional recording at Atlantic Studios, also located in Hollywood.