"Doesn't Really Matter" is a song by American singer-songwriter Janet Jackson from the soundtrack to the 2000 film Nutty Professor II: The Klumps and her seventh studio album, All for You (2001). It was written and produced by Jackson, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The track was sent to contemporary hit radio in the US on May 23, 2000, after an unmastered version was leaked to several radio stations. It is an upbeat electropop, R&B and dance song with a syncopated drum loop and bassline. Based on a previously discarded poem Jackson wrote, the lyrics are about her film character's love for the Nutty Professor in spite of his insecurities.
Unlike its accompanying film, the track received generally positive reviews from music critics, who praised its upbeat sound and Jackson's breathy voice. "Doesn't Really Matter" topped the Billboard Hot 100 for three consecutive weeks, becoming the singer's ninth US chart-topper. It was Jackson's 19th single to be certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), making her only the third singer, after Madonna and Whitney Houston, to achieve this feat. The song peaked at number five on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Jackson's 15th single to reach the top 10 in the UK. It also peaked within the top 10 in Canada, Denmark, Poland, Italy, and Spain.
The Joseph Kahn-directed music video resembles an abstract, futuristic environment based on Japanese culture. It features an AIBO, a prototype of the Acura CL-X, morphing clothes, and a dance sequence on a tilting platform. Production of the video cost over $2.5 million (equivalent to $ million in ), making it one of the most expensive music videos of all time. To promote the single, Jackson performed it on British television program Top of the Pops and at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. The song was also performed during four of the singer's concert tours, and her 2019 Las Vegas residency, Janet Jackson: Metamorphosis.
Background and development "Doesn't Really Matter" was written and produced by Janet Jackson, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis as the theme for the Universal Pictures film Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, starring Jackson and actor Eddie Murphy. When asked to contribute a single for the movie's soundtrack, Jackson stated that she would consider if she found an appropriate song. The single would allow Jackson to continue releasing music, while simultaneously devoting time to her film career. To help inspire Jackson, director Peter Segal brought a rough cut of the film to Flyte Tyme Studios where the singer was recording her seventh album, All for You. She decided to write an uptempo love song rather than a ballad, inspired by Segal finding her love for Murphy's unattractive character in the film convincing.
The lyrics of "Doesn't Really Matter" were based on a poem Jackson found which she previously wrote and disposed of. The poem's lyrics were kept intact, although its structure was altered. Jackson wrote further lyrics for the song during the same night Jam came up with the melody alongside drum programmer Alex Richburg. After an early version of the song was created, Jackson requested Jam and Richburg to add more instrumentation, however Jam decided to record from live to tape after Richburg left the studio. Initially conceived as a "slow melody", Jam chose to increase its tempo.
Two different choruses were written by Jam and Jackson; Jam wrote "Nutty, nutty, nutty, my love for you" while Jackson wrote "Doesn't really matter". They decided to use Jackson's chorus, and include Jam's chorus towards the end of the track. Jackson presented three songs to Segal on May 12, 2000, three days prior to his set deadline for the soundtrack. He chose "Doesn't Really Matter", believing it was a better fit and a "summertime record". A slightly modified version was included on All for You, featuring an alternate introduction and elements from the song's "hard, twitchy" Rockwilder remix.
Composition
"Doesn't Really Matter" is an electropop, R&B, and dance song. Although making using of funk production, common in R&B music at the time of its 2000 release, the track was viewed as an R&B-pop take on lounge music. Its upbeat pop sound is akin to Jackson's 1995 single "Runaway", a stark contrast to the sparse R&B of her previous 1997 album, The Velvet Rope. Music critic Jim Farber compared the retro-style melody in "Doesn't Really Matter" to compositions by Burt Bacharach. The production makes use of sparse, programmed percussion.
The majority of the track was played live to tape, even though it sounded sequenced. Jam recalled that only a small portion was sequenced, which was used to double the melody. The song utilizes both a syncopated drum loop and a bassline, which passes the circle of fifths to reach the V chord. The bassline allows space for the snare drum to be heard on the second and fourth beats, as well as accentuating the snare before the fourth beat is played.
The song begins with a 20-second mid-tempo introduction performed by Jackson in breathy voice. Jackson performs a falsetto trill on the lyrics "My love / For you / Is unconditional too". The chorus has nearly twice the speed of the stop-start verses. A more fluid breakdown features halfway, offsetting the pace and high-energy dynamic of the chorus. The song also utilizes a key change. According to Jackson, the lyrics for "Doesn't Really Matter" are about her film character's love for The Nutty Professor and refers to "how it doesn't matter what is on the exterior, but the interior".
Critical reception "Doesn't Really Matter" received generally positive reviews from music critics. Chuck Eddy of The Village Voice regarded it as Jackson's best single since 1990's "Black Cat", stating that "the melody's subliminal Asianness makes the nothingness of her piddly voice pretty—fragile like rice paper". In the New York Daily News, Jim Farber viewed the track as innovative, noting that it "dodges current clichés" and has "the yearning freshness of a summer breeze". According to him, "the baby's-breath tune and lightly skittish beat provide the perfect accompaniment for Jackson's coo of a voice". Carol Cooper of Sonicnet wrote that Jackson's vocals "deserve special mention for the deft way she speed-sings verses and choruses so as to accent their underlying rhythmic patterns".
In his review of the single for AllMusic, Jose F. Promis called it "impossibly catchy". Melissa Marschheuser of The Orlando Sentinel wrote that the song has "a beat you just can't help but hum along to". Matt Diehl of Entertainment Weekly viewed the track as "effervescent", and cited it and R. Kelly's "Just a Touch" as the only two consequential R&B songs on the soundtrack. In his review of All for You for Entertainment Weekly, Tom Sinclair regarded the song as "competent hack pop". Sean Piccoli of the Sun-Sentinel believed it had "a less suffocating shade of pop" than other tracks on All for You.
Neumus Anthony Carew found the song "surgically clean" and the production "suitably slick", noting that Jam and Lewis were "so self-conscious of their skills they cut-in the word 'edit' as a cute cut-up gimmick". Chuck Taylor of Billboard called the song "frothy" and "a leftover from another time", but argued that it was "innocent fun" and "a smile-bearing throwback" that highlighted Jackson's "still-youthful vocal musings". Dotmusics Gary Crossing was more critical, calling it a "disappointing fare" with a "bland" vocal mix, writing that "apart from the key changes there's barely anything of interest here". Writing in a 2022 retrospective review for Stereogum, Tom Breihan criticized the song's excessive production for its continuous "changing tones and tempos", but complimented Jackson's vocals and "rhythmic intelligence" for following the beat. Billboard included "Doesn't Really Matter" in its list of The Greatest Songs of 2000 at number 78. The Guardian placed it at number eight in its 2015 list of Jackson's best songs.
Commercial performance "Doesn't Really Matter" received early attention a week ahead of its US radio release on May 23, 2000, after an unmastered version leaked to several radio stations, some of whom made their own radio edits from the leak. It became the most added song on pop, rhythmic, and urban radio formats upon release. On the US Billboard Hot 100 issue dated June 17, 2000, "Doesn't Really Matter" debuted at number 59 on airplay alone. Following its CD and cassette single release on August 8, 2000, "Doesn't Really Matter" climbed to number one, selling 96,000 copies during its first full week of sales. The song spent three consecutive weeks at number one before being replaced by "Music" by Madonna. The single peaked at number one on the Hot 100 from the week ending August 26, 2000 to September 9, 2000. The single dropped off the Hot 100 on December 2, 2000, after being on the chart for 25 weeks. It was Jackson's ninth US number-one single and made her the first singer to achieve a number one in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s in the US.
The track peaked at number two on the Rhythmic Top 40, number three on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks and Mainstream Top 40 charts, and number nine on the Maxi-Singles Sales chart. It also registered a 75-1 climb on the Hot Singles Sales chart, after debuting before its physical release because of street-date violations. "Doesn't Really Matter" was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on September 25, 2000, for selling 500,000 copies in the US. According to the RIAA, Jackson became the third female singer, after Madonna and Whitney Houston, to achieve 19 gold-selling singles. The song was the 13th best-selling single of 2000 in the US with sales of 600,000 copies (rounded off to the nearest 100,000).
In Canada, "Doesn't Really Matter" debuted at number 45 on the RPM 100 Hit Tracks chart dated July 3, 2000. On the October 2 issue, it peaked at number two. In Australia, the song bowed at number 28 on the ARIA Singles Chart. On the New Zealand Singles Chart, it peaked at number 27 and spent a total of six weeks on the chart. "Doesn't Really Matter" fared better on the UK Singles Chart where it debuted at number five, making it Jackson's 15th single to reach the top 10 in the UK. The song was present on the chart for 11 weeks and was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for selling 200,000 copies. In Europe, "Doesn't Really Matter" charted in the top 10 in Denmark, Italy, Poland and Spain. It also reached the top 20 in Belgium (Wallonia), the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland. In Japan, "Doesn't Really Matter" received a Japan Gold Disc Award from the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for Top Selling Song of the Year by a foreign artist.
Music video Background
The music video for "Doesn't Really Matter" was directed by Joseph Kahn, with the setting portraying a futuristic city inspired by Tokyo. It showcases Jackson in an abstract anime-based environment, featuring an AIBO, which was the very first consumer Artificial Intelligence robot and was created for the companionship of adults and elderly people. Morphing clothes, levitating platforms, and a futuristic Acura vehicle, the Acura CL-X Concept Prototype, are featured in the video. The music video was filmed in Universal City, California on June 4–8, and premiered on MTV's Making the Video on June 28, 2000. Production costs were over $2.5 million (equivalent to $ million in ), making it one of the most expensive music videos of all time.