Don't Say You Love Me (Fifth Harmony song)
"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). Background "Don't Say You Love Me" was written by Nate Cyphert, Henrick Barman Michaelsen, Edward Forre Erfiard, Lisa Scinta and its producer Ian Kinkpatrick. Originally the song was recorded by Demi Lovato, whose demo eventually leaked in November 2021. Fifth Harmony's vocals were recorded at the Windmark Recording Studios in Santa Monica. Phill Than mixed the record at the Callanwolde Fine Arts Center in Atlanta, with Emerson Mancini later mastering it at the Larrabe Studios in North Hollywood. When talking about the song during a track-by-track interview with Jason Lipshutz from Billboard, Dinah Jane revealed that she was sick during the recording of the song, and the producers felt that her voice would fit perfectly for the pre-chorus. Ally Brooke considered it a "special" record saying that the group was taken to a "very vulnerable place" during the recording sessions. When describing the song, Brooke said: Composition and lyrics A midtempo song built on a moderate tropical, dembow rhythm, "Don't Say You Love Me" is a torch song that finds the group asking for an honest relationship. The lyrics are constructed in the traditional verse-chorus form. The chorus, sung in an emotive tone, is first performed by Lauren Jauregui who introduces the song