Don't Bother

2005 song by Shakira

Pop rock
synth rock Shakira also produced the song. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes. com by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, the song is published in the key of E minor (the relative key G major is in the chorus) and has a moderate rock tempo of 130 beats per minute. Shakira's vocal range on the song spans from the note of E3 to E5. She assures him that he "won’t ever see me [Shakira] cry" and that she will move on in her life without him.</blockquote>

"Don't Bother" was issued by Epic Records as the lead single from Oral Fixation, Vol 2 and premiered on 9 October 2005 in the United States by AOL Music's First Listen initiative. The single saw its European physical release on 4 November 2005, In the United Kingdom, "Don't Bother" was issued as a CD single on 27 February 2006.

The song received generally mixed reviews from music critics. Matt Cibula from PopMatters praised its theme and Shakira's "furious and sexual and self mocking" vocal delivery, but found the song "strange" and "internally inconsistent". Alexis Petridis from The Guardian complimented the unpredictable nature of the song, although he also noted that the lyrics at times suggested a "faltering grasp of English". Edward Oculicz from Stylus Magazine gave it a positive review, calling the song's chorus "bruised" and "anthemic" and the lyrics "impossible for native speakers to emulate". Pam Avoledo from Blogcritics was also positive towards the song, noting improvement in Shakira's vocal delivery and calling them "brassy yet sensitive". Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic picked the song as a highlight from the album. In Finland, the song entered and peaked at number four on the chart, becoming Shakira's highest peaking single in the region since "Whenever, Wherever", (2001). Its stay in the chart, however, was very short and lasted for only a week. and also peaked at number six on the airplay chart. In Italy, the song performed moderately well, entering the chart at number 12 and peaking at number eight; it spent a total of 11 weeks on the chart. In Switzerland, the song entered the chart at number 10 and peaked at number eight; it stayed on the chart for a long period of 31 weeks. In the United Kingdom, the song debuted and peaked at number nine on the singles chart, spending a total of five weeks on the chart. It was Shakira's first single since "Objection (Tango)" (2002), to chart in the country. It spent a total of nine weeks on the chart. In the US, the song was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments of 500,000 units.

The accompanying music video for "Don't Bother" was directed by Jaume de Laiguana, who had previously collaborated with Shakira on the video for "No", and was released on 15 November 2005. The video begins with a man parking his sports car in front of a house and proceeding to enter it. Shakira is seen lying on a bed in the house and the man comes up and lies beside her, indicating that they are a couple. As soon as the man falls asleep, Shakira wakes up and lies atop the man and begins to caress him and bite and whisper in his ear a few times, although he does not wake up. Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine positively reacted to the video and found it "rich with symbolism".

After 14 years of release, in the second week of September 2019, the official music video witnessed an unexpected surge in views on YouTube, racking up over 15 million views in 4 days.

Shakira performed "Don't Bother" live for the first time at the 2005 Nordic Music Awards, held on 29 October 2005. She next went on to perform the song at the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards ceremony held on 3 November 2005, where she also won the award for "Best Female Artist". In November, the singer gave a surprise concert at Times Square and performed "Don't Bother" along with "La Tortura" and "Hey You". "Don't Bother" was also performed on television show Jensen! along with "La Tortura". It was followed by performances on Good Morning America on 2 December, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show three days later. On 10 December 2005, she performed the song along with "La Tortura" on Saturday Night Live. Five days later, Shakira performed the song during an appearance on Late Night with David Letterman. It was also included the song to her set on Z100's Jingle Ball at Madison Square Garden in New York which happened the day after. The singer also performed "Don't Bother" live on MTV's New Year of Music at Times Square, on 31 December 2005. She returned to Europe to another promotional tour for the song, starting on 21 January 2006 at the NRJ Music Awards in France. Shakira later went to the United Kingdom to perform "Don't Bother" on Top of the Pops on 29 January, and CD:UK on 4 February. On 2 March, she appeared on GMTV to promote the song, also appearing on Sanremo Music Festival 2006 the same day, and Popworld two days later. She then traveled to Germany to perform the song on 12 March 2006 at the Echo Awards. Shortly before the start of her tour, Shakira performed the song during the Rock in Rio festival in Lisbon, Portugal, on 26 May 2006. "Don't Bother" was included in the concert setlist of her Oral Fixation Tour, which was launched in 2006 to promote the albums Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 and Oral Fixation, Vol. 2. While headlining at the 2007 Live Earth concert held in Hamburg on 7 July 2007, Germany, Shakira performed "Don't Bother" along with three other songs. She also included the song on the set list for her concert at Rock in Rio held at Madrid, Spain, on 4 July 2008.

+ Release dates and formats for "Don't Bother" Region Date Format(s) Label(s) Ref. (Reference(s)) United States 11 October 2005 Contemporary hit radio, rhythmic contemporary radio Epic 18 October 2005 Digital download Germany CD single, CD, Maxi single, maxi CD Australia 21 November 2005 Maxi CD France 23 January 2006 CD 27 February 2006 DVD United Kingdom CD RCA