"Don't Say You Love Me" | |
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Promotional single by Fifth Harmony | |
from the album Fifth Harmony | |
Released | May 18, 2018 |
Studio | Windmark Recording (Santa Monica, California) |
Genre | Tropical house |
Length | 3:13 |
Label | |
Songwriter(s) |
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Producer(s) |
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Music video | |
"Don't Say You Love Me" on YouTube |
"Don't Say You Love Me" is a song recorded by American girl group Fifth Harmony for their self-titled third studio album (2017). It was written by Nate Cyphert, Ian Kirkpatrick, Henrik Barman Michaelsen, Edvard Forre Erfjord, Lisa Scinta. A mid-tempo ballad, "Don't Say You Love Me" incorporates a tropical music production that runs through a moderate dembow rhythm, using a minimal instrumentation; it has an acoustic guitar riff and a syncopated drumline. Lyrically, it is a melancholic torch song that finds the group asking a "close but inconsistent" lover for an honest relationship. The lyrics are structured in verse–pre-chorus–chorus form.
"Don't Say You Love Me" was critically well-received by music critics who reviewed the song upon the album's release, with some citing it as one of the highlights of the record while praising the melancholy and vulnerability expressed in the song's lyrical content and sonic elements. An accompanying music video for "Don't Say You Love Me" was released on May 18, 2018 as a farewell before the group went into an indefinite hiatus. Directed by P.R. Brown, the video was shot in an abandoned warehouse and features the four members dancing in gowns and long dresses while emotionally singing the song. At the end of the video, the group embrace while holding hands in a circle before leaving through a door in the room that remains open as the last member leaves.
The song was performed for the first time live during their appearance on MTV's reboot of Total Request Live alongside "He Like That" on October 27, 2017. Fifth Harmony also sung "Don't Say You Love Me" to a small group of fans at the Hollywood Boulevard street in Hollywood, California, in February 2018. It was also included on the setlist of their PSA Tour (2017–18).