Written and produced by Jackson and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis as one of the two original songs on the album, it was made available commercially as the lead single on August 29, 1995, by A&M Records in the United States.

Originally written for a possible duet with her brother Michael Jackson, it is a pop and dance song with influences of Middle Eastern music, including church bells and sitars in the composition.

The song received positive reviews from music critics, who appreciated its production and compared it to works by Prince, as well as with Janet Jackson's past singles, most notably "Escapade".

[3] As Jackson's contract with Virgin included a clause giving her the option to leave the label during this time, she returned to A&M in order to release Design of a Decade: 1986–1996, her first compilation album, in October 1995.

"[4] According to Cafaro, no new songs would be released; however, "That's the Way Love Goes" from her contract with Virgin, as well as two new tracks, were included in the compilation, so it "legitimately represents Jackson's greatest hits from the past 10 years".

[4] Two new songs — "Runaway" and "Twenty Foreplay" — were recorded in July and August 1995 for the album, produced by Jackson's longtime collaborators Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

[4][7] Additionally, a variety of remixes of Janet Jackson's past single "When I Think of You" (1986), provided by David Morales, Deep Dish, and Farley and Heller, were included in the release.

[14][11][12] According to Spin's Chris Norris, the song begins with sounds of church bells, synthetic gamelan, bubbling water, sitars and Jackson's "little girl giggle, which soon overtakes the mix".

[15] Billboard's Larry Flick wrote that it has a "gigglin' performance" by Jackson and "silken 'ooh-sha-sha' harmonies"; he also said Jam and Lewis "snap the song's playful elements into a cohesive package with a taut funk bassline and a Supremes-styled pop backbeat".

[17] For their part, Freaky Trigger website observed, "This is one of the few songs Janet has recorded that panders to her gossamer-thin voice; any more muscle on the verses or chorus would turn the shimmer into an insufferable bludgeoning mess.

[22] From David Browne of Entertainment Weekly's point of view, the lyrical content saw Jackson going on tour and traveling to exotic destinations, but "that special someone" was not around to share it with her.

The Guardian's Ross Jones called the song "cute",[24] while Phil Thompson of The Tampa Tribune considered it "bubbly",[25] and Langston Wertz Jr. from The Charlotte Observer handed the classification of "excellent".

[14] Gil L. Robertson IV from Cashbox named it Pick of the Week, noting that the song aptly shows Jackson's continued evolution as a "strong and highly-focused adult performer".

[28] Steve Baltin from the same publication felt it "marks a departure for Jackson, as she returns to a more innocent style", and noted that on certain moments of the song it is "impossible to tell Janet’s voice from that of her famous brother".

"[30] Tirzah Agassi of the Jerusalem Post wrote that with its "constant punctuation of temple bells", the song "sounds pretty good heard on its own" as the opening track of the album.

[34] On a contrary note, Billboard's Paul Verna felt that the inclusion of "Runaway" and "Twenty Foreplay" on the compilation "gives the collection extra sizzle, and suggests that Jackson's already lofty star is still on the rise".

[35] Paul Marsh from the San Francisco Examiner wrote that "Runaway" and "Twenty Foreplay" were not "that adventurous, but they're solid", complementing how "if they were white of more bohemian, Jackson-Jam-Lewis might have been a hot modern rock band".

[63] Carol Vernallis described the visual in Experiencing Music Video: Aesthetics and Cultural Context as Jackson "leapfrog[ing] among the Seven Wonders of the World";[65] her dress and jewelry are a combination of non-Western styles, as she wears "extensive makeup, appears with her hair up and 'exotically' straightened and her glasses diagonally pointed".

Jackson travels around the world and visits several global landmarks, including the pyramids of Egypt, the Christ the Redeemer sculpture in Rio de Janeiro, and the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

[31] Brett Atwood of Billboard observed that Jackson continued to "tinker with her on-screen image" in the clip; he also went on to say that some fans may be surprised by the nose ring she sports, which is "hard to miss since a strand of the sassy singer's hair is braided and tied to it".

[64] The Los Angeles Times' Lorraine Ali commented that while the video was a "total fantasy for an artist whose freedom is constricted by fame, many avid fans will no doubt digest it as some higher truth, making Jackson’s reality more twisted than ever".

During the performance, Jackson wore a jester's headdress and satin bustier, with her dancers dressed as "flowers, Mad Hatters, and horny gnomes" amid a "blindingly bright, poppy-induced set design" with varied props, which include a smiling clock tower, inflatable moons, mammoth chaise, vases, and books.