"Do I Wanna Know?" is a song by English rock band Arctic Monkeys, with lyrics written by frontman Alex Turner. It was released on 19 June 2013 by Domino Recording Company as the second single from their fifth studio album, AM (2013). It received a digital download release through iTunes as well as an accompanying music video. Before its release as a single, the song was premiered by the band live in May 2013 on the AM Tour, where it was often played as the opening number. It is an indie rock, psychedelic rock, stoner rock and blues rock song, and is built around a stomping guitar riff.
"Do I Wanna Know?" peaked at number 11 in the UK Singles Chart, charted in several other countries and was the first Arctic Monkeys song to have ever entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States, peaking at number 70 in March 2014. The song was nominated for Best Rock Performance at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards in 2015. In December 2019, the song was ranked number three on Guitar Worlds list of the 20 best guitar riffs of the decade. The song has accumulated about 1.8 billion streams on Spotify and ranks in the 100 most-streamed songs in the streaming platform’s history, and its music video has earned 1.5 billion views on YouTube.
Composition
"Do I Wanna Know?" is performed in the key of G minor. Musically, it has been described as an indie rock, psychedelic rock, stoner rock, blues rock and alternative rock song. The song has a similar aesthetic style and lyrical content to their 2012 song "R U Mine?"; it is more downtempo while having similar guitar riffs. PopMatters describes it as "a cleaner, slower-burning 'R U Mine?'", while also finding its "stomping" style to be a "steadier take" on the music found on Humbug (2009). The song also contains the edgier sound found on their previous album Suck It and See (2011). In concert, singer and guitarist Alex Turner uses a Vox 12-string electric guitar.
Structurally, the song follows a common pop music "verse-pre-chorus-chorus" form up until its second chorus; from that point on, it follows what Hit Songs Deconstructed calls "a more unorthodox flow" ending in a "pre-chorus/chorus hybrid section". Falsetto backing vocals are also blended with those of Turner's throughout the song. Moreover, the title encapsulates the entire premise of the story, the narrator wondering whether he wants to remain in doubt or know if his feelings are unrequited or mutual.
Release and reception
"Do I Wanna Know" was first played live on 22 May 2013 in Ventura, California at the first concert of the band's AM Tour. Throughout the tour, the song was being played as the opening number. It was then released as AMs second single on 19 June 2013, appearing in digital download formats through iTunes. It was accompanied by a music video released on YouTube. The single was released with no promotion, allowing fans to purchase it through iTunes immediately. A 7-inch vinyl edition of the single was released on 22 July 2013, with a B-side titled "2013". On AM, "Do I Wanna Know?" appears as the opening track.
Rolling Stone ranked "Do I Wanna Know?" as the tenth best song of 2013, calling it "the highlight of the U.K. crew's soul-rock overhaul album AM." The song was nominated for Best Rock Performance at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards in 2015, losing to "Lazaretto" by Jack White. In December 2019, the song was ranked number three on Guitar Worlds list of the 20 best guitar riffs of the decade. NME later ranked the song as the fifth best song of the 2010s decade. Music critic Steven Hyden said of the song "If “Seven Nation Army” is the most famous rock song of the last 20 years, then “Do I Wanna Know” has to be the second most famous."
Commercial performance
Despite a midweek on air on sale release, the song entered the UK Singles Chart at number 11, making it the band's highest-charting single since "Fluorescent Adolescent" in 2007. It was outperformed by the next single "Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?", which debuted at number eight. "Do I Wanna Know?" has spent 65 weeks in the UK top 100, this being the longest run of any Arctic Monkeys single, to date. The single was awarded a platinum certification by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 7 February 2015, indicating shipments in excess of 600,000 units; it is the first Arctic Monkeys single to do so. As of , it is certified quintuple-platinum in the UK.