"Really Don't Care" is a song by American singer
Demi Lovato
Demetria Devonne "Demi" Lovato ( ; born August 20, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. After appearing on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004), she starred in the Disney Channel short series ...
, featuring English singer
Cher Lloyd
Cher Lloyd (born 28 July 1993) is an English singer. She participated on the The X Factor (UK series 7), seventh series of the television talent show ''The X Factor (UK TV series), The X Factor'' in 2010, where she finished in fourth place. F ...
. The song was released on May 20, 2014, as the fourth and final single from the former's fourth studio album ''
Demi'' (2013). Both of them co-wrote the track with
Savan Kotecha and its producers
Carl Falk and
Rami Yacoub. "Really Don't Care" has been certified 2× platinum by
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
(RIAA). It is Lovato's third number one on the US Dance chart. The track reached the top 10 in Israel as well as the top 30 in Canada, Slovakia, and the United States.
Composition
"Really Don't Care" is an uptempo
dance-pop
Dance-pop is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit ra ...
song, with influences of
bubblegum pop
Bubblegum (also called bubblegum pop) is pop music in a catchy and upbeat style that is marketed for children and adolescents. The term also refers to a more specific rock and pop subgenre, originating in the United States in the late 1960s, th ...
,
that runs for three minutes and twenty-one seconds. Lloyd makes a brief appearance during the bridge. Lyrically, the song is a message of defiance to a former lover, with Lovato confidently singing such lines as, "Even if the stars and moon collide, I never want you back into my life."
The song is set in the key of
G major
G major is a major scale based on G (musical note), G, with the pitches G, A (musical note), A, B (musical note), B, C (musical note), C, D (musical note), D, E (musical note), E, and F♯ (musical note), F. Its key signature has one sharp (music ...
and maintains a moderately fast tempo of 121 beats per minute in common time. Lovato originally wrote the song as a breakup song. She later chose to make it a more empowering song, and told
Refinery29
Refinery29 (R29) is an American multinational digital media and entertainment website focused on young women. It is owned by Sundial Media Group.
History
Justin Stefano, Philippe von Borries, Piera Gelardi, and Christene Barberich co-founded Ref ...
"I wanted to make it more empowering, when I thought of the lyrics 'really don't care', it made me think of bullying, and made me think of the LGBT community, who deal with that so often, but they accept themselves."
Critical reception
''
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 ...
'' writer Jason Lipshutz praised Lovato's "sassy" confidence on the track, which effectively showcases her "overpowering pipes". He also commented positively on the placement of the song on the track list, noting that "Really Don't Care" serves a "buoyant reprieve" after more emotionally heavy tracks.
Sam Lansky of ''
Idolator'' described the song as "irresistibly spunky", but found Lloyd's short feature to be superfluous.
4Music
4Music was a British music television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. Launched on 15 August 2008, the original incarnation, replacing The Hits television channel, showed a mix of music and entertainment pr ...
called the song "a brilliant break-up survival anthem that sticks it to every annoying ex ever".
On the other hand, Melinda Newman of ''
HitFix
HitFix, or HitFix.com, was an entertainment news website that launched in December 2008 specializing in breaking entertainment news, insider information, and reviews and critiques of film, music, and television. In mid-2010 HitFix crossed the 1,00 ...
'' found the song to be too generic, comparing it to
Icona Pop's breakout hit "
I Love It" (2012).
Commercial performance
Before it was released as a single, "Really Don't Care" debuted on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 98. After it was released as a single, it peaked at number 26 making it Lovato's eighth top 40 entry on the Hot 100 and making Cher Lloyd's third entry on that chart and second top 40 single since her song "
Want U Back
"Want U Back" is a song by English singer Cher Lloyd from her debut studio album, ''Sticks and Stones (Cher Lloyd album), Sticks and Stones'' (2011). It was released as the third single from the album on 3 February 2012, and it was released as ...
". On the US Dance Chart, it became Lovato's third number one and Lloyd's first number one on that chart. As of October 2017, "Really Don't Care" has sold over 952,000 digital downloads in the United States.
Music videos
Background and synopsis
The official music video was released on June 26, 2014, although few teasers for the video were previously uploaded on Lovato's official
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
channel.
The video starts off with Lovato expressing her support for the LGBT community and saying ''"my Jesus loves all."'' After that, the music starts and Lovato is seen singing her single at the parade. The video was filmed on June 8, 2014 at the
LA Pride Parade and features cameo appearances from
Perez Hilton
Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr. (born March 23, 1978), known professionally as Perez Hilton, is an American blogger, columnist, and media personality. His blog is known for posts covering gossip items about celebrities, and for posting Tabloid jou ...
,
Kat Graham
Katerina Alexandre Hartford Graham (born September 5, 1989) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and activist. She played Bonnie Bennett on The CW supernatural drama series ''The Vampire Diaries'' (2009–2017). Her film credits include '' ...
,
Shane Bitney Crone
Shane Bitney Crone (born December 19, 1985) is an American filmmaker, writer, speaker, and advocate for LGBT rights.
Early life
Crone was born in Kalispell, Montana. He moved to Los Angeles after high school graduation.
Career
"It Could Ha ...
,
Bria Kam and Chrissy Chambers,
John Taylor,
Travis Barker
Travis Landon Barker (born November 14, 1975) is an American musician, songwriter, and music producer who is the drummer for the rock band Blink-182. He has collaborated with hip hop artists, is a member of the rap rock group Transplants ...
and
Wilmer Valderrama
Wilmer Eduardo Valderrama ( ; born January 30, 1980) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Fez in the sitcom '' That '70s Show'' (1998–2006), his current role as Special Agent Nick Torres in '' NCIS'' (2016–present), and Agu ...
.
Cher Lloyd also appears during the bridge part of the song. It was directed by Ryan Pallotta, who collaborated with Lovato from her previous music videos, "
Neon Lights" and "
Made in the USA".
Lyric video
The lyric video was uploaded on May 14, 2014 on Lovato's
Vevo
Vevo LLC ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized in all caps until 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available ...
account. The video features the lyrics of the song above several shots of Brazilian fans
lip sync
Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , like the word ''sink'', despite the Hard and soft C, spelling of the participial forms ''synced'' and ''syncing''), short for lip synchronization, is a technical term for matching a Speech, speaking or singin ...
ing the song as well as some scenes from concerts where Lovato performs the song during the
concert tour
A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often, concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific ...
. During the video, Lovato makes an appearance to surprise some of the fans. At the end, a message is displayed to thank the Brazilian fans for helping out with the filming of the lyric video.
Live performances
Lovato performed the song on several occasions before its official release as a single. Once released in May 2014, performances include on the Season 13 Live Final of American Idol, ''
Good Morning America
''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...
'' Summer Concert Series, ''
Late Night with Seth Meyers
''Late Night with Seth Meyers'' is an American late-night news and political satire variety talk show hosted by Seth Meyers on NBC. The show premiered on February 24, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. Airing w ...
'', and the
2014 Teen Choice Awards. The song was also included in the setlists for
The Neon Lights Tour and the
Demi World Tour. Furthermore, the song was part of Lovato's setlist at the 2015
iHeartRadio Music Festival on September 18–19, 2015.
Awards and nominations
Formats and track listings
*Digital download (Remixes EP)
#"Really Don't Care" (feat. Cher Lloyd) (
Radio Disney
Radio Disney was an American radio network operated by the Disney Radio Networks unit of Disney Branded Television within Disney General Entertainment Content, headquartered in Burbank, California.
The network broadcast music programming ...
version) - 3:20
#"Really Don't Care" (DJLW Remix) - 4:30
#"Really Don't Care" (Toy Armada & DJ GRIND Remix) - 5:35
#"Really Don't Care" (
Cole Plante Remix) - 5:07
#"Really Don't Care" (
Digital Dog Club Remix) - 5:07
*Digital download (Remixes)
#"Really Don't Care" (Cole Plante Remix) - 5:07
#"Really Don't Care" (Cole Plante Radio Remix) - 3:37
*Digital download (EP)
#"Really Don't Care" (feat. Cher Lloyd) - 3:21
#"Really Don't Care" (DJLW Radio Edit) - 3:14
#"Really Don't Care" (Cole Plante Radio Remix) - 3:37
#"Really Don't Care" (Digital Dog Radio Remix) - 3:19
#"Really Don't Care" (Toy Armada & DJ GRIND Radio Remix) - 3:40
#"Demi in London" (Video) - 2:22
*Digital and download
#"Really Don't Care" (feat.
Cher Lloyd
Cher Lloyd (born 28 July 1993) is an English singer. She participated on the The X Factor (UK series 7), seventh series of the television talent show ''The X Factor (UK TV series), The X Factor'' in 2010, where she finished in fourth place. F ...
) - 3:21
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
See also
*
List of number-one dance singles of 2014 (U.S.)
References
{{Authority control
2013 songs
2014 singles
Cher Lloyd songs
Demi Lovato songs
Songs written by Carl Falk
Songs written by Demi Lovato
Songs written by Rami Yacoub
Songs written by Savan Kotecha
Song recordings produced by Rami Yacoub
LGBTQ-related songs
Torch songs
Hollywood Records singles
Songs about bullying
Songs with feminist themes
Breakup songs