You Don't Know What to Do

"You Don't Know What to Do"
Mariah Carey facing the camera with her arms up behind her head.
Single by Mariah Carey featuring Wale
from the album Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse
ReleasedJune 30, 2014 (2014-06-30)
Studio
GenreDisco
Length4:46
LabelDef Jam
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Carey
  • Dupri
  • Cox
Mariah Carey singles chronology
"You're Mine (Eternal)"
(2014)
"You Don't Know What to Do"
(2014)
"Infinity"
(2015)
Wale singles chronology
"Clappers"
(2013)
"You Don't Know What to Do"
(2014)
"Don't Shoot"
(2014)

"You Don't Know What to Do" is a song by American singer and songwriter Mariah Carey included on her fourteenth studio album, Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse (2014), and features rapper Wale. The track was released on June 30, 2014, as the third single from the album. It was written by Wale, Carey, Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox, with production helmed by the latter two. The song contains an interpolation of "I'm Caught Up in a One Night Affair" written by Patrick Adams and Terri Gonzalez, both of whom received songwriting credits as a result. The single's artwork caused controversy when the media criticised Carey for photoshopping and re-using images of herself. Carey herself later expressed her discontent on the matter, stating that she had no knowledge of the single's artwork until it was released.

A disco revival song, the lyrics are about Carey being dissatisfied by her lover's failed attempts at romancing her. Despite being serviced to urban and rhythmic radio, the song failed to enter any US charts; Belgium, Russia and South Korea were the only territories where the song charted, peaking at number 14 on its Ultratip chart in the Wallonian region, and numbers 73 and 152 in South Korea and Russia, respectively. "You Don't Know What to Do" garnered critical acclaim amongst music critics: many complimented the disco revival and throwback style, calling it the best track on the album, and compared it to the works of Jocelyn Brown, Daft Punk, Chic and post-revivalist songs produced Pharrell Williams. Carey and Wale performed the song for the first time on the Today show in the United States.