"Can't Remember to Forget You" is a song recorded by Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira from her fourth English and overall tenth studio album, Shakira, featuring Barbadian singer Rihanna. Shakira began planning to make new music in 2011: work continued into 2012, at which time she left her previous label Epic Records and joined RCA Records. The song was released as the lead single of the album on 13 January 2014 through RCA Records and Sony Latin Iberia. A solo Spanish-language version of the song, entitled "Nunca Me Acuerdo de Olvidarte", was released on 24 January 2014.
The song was co-written by Shakira, Rihanna, John Hill, Tom "Kid Harpoon" Hull, Daniel Alexander, and Erik Hassle, while production was handled by Shakira, Hill, and Hull. "Can't Remember to Forget You" is an uptempo track that fuses reggae, rock and new wave pop. Lyrically the song revolves around forgetting someone who is bad even though you love the person. Upon its release, "Can't Remember to Forget You" was met with mixed reviews from critics; while critics praised the ska influences, they felt that the song overall was not memorable. Other critics noted similarities between the song and the music of the Police and Bruno Mars.
Commercially, the single fared very well, reaching number one in Greece and Lebanon and the top ten in twenty-seven additional countries. In the US, the song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at twenty-eight and later went on to peak at fifteen on the chart, becoming Shakira's highest-debuting track in the region. The track is certified Diamond in Brazil, five times Platinum in Norway, and Gold or Platinum in nine additional countries. The music video, which was shot in a Los Angeles mansion, was directed by Joseph Kahn and was premiered and uploaded to YouTube on 30 January 2014. The accompanying video featured both Shakira and Rihanna in revealing outfits, dancing, smoking cigars, and a "naked embrace". As of 2022, the video has more than one billion views on YouTube. The song was performed live for the first time on iHeartRadio.
Background
In October 2010, Shakira released her ninth studio and Spanish-language album, Sale el Sol. The record marked a return to her musical roots after her experimentation with electronic music and was primarily a Latin pop album with influences of rock and merengue music. It garnered critical acclaim and was a commercial success internationally. A year later in November, Shakira revealed in an interview with Billboard magazine that she had begun writing new material and working with various producers for a new record. Initially in 2012, it was expected that the first single from the singer's album would be a song titled "Truth or Dare". In June, Colombian newspaper El Heraldo reported that Shakira had been filming the music video for the song in Lisbon, Portugal, and speculated that it would be in late 2012. "Truth or Dare", however, was not released.
On 6 December 2013, a Twitter page named @ShakiraSpace announced the duet between Shakira and Rihanna. Then, on 8 December 2013, Shakira's body double Alexita Ortiz wrote on social networking site Twitter that she had been working with her on the set for a music video, and mentioned that Rihanna was also involved. The tweet was subsequently removed. The speculation regarding the collaboration of the two singers increased after Cuban American rapper Pitbull, in a radio interview on Kidd Kraddick in the Morning, commented that Rihanna wasn't able to appear as the featured artist in his song "Timber" as she had "something she had to do with Shakira." Later, Sony Music announced that the first single would be in early 2014.
Release and artwork
On 6 January 2014, the title of the song was revealed to be "Can't Remember to Forget You" and Rihanna confirmed that she would be contributing her vocals on the track. She also mentioned that it would be on 13 January 2014, although it was initially going to be one day later. The next day, Shakira also confirmed the date of the duet and posted a promotional cover. "Nunca Me Acuerdo de Olvidarte", the Spanish version, was on 21 January 2014, which does not feature Rihanna. A physical single in Germany is set to be out on 14 February 2014.