"Sorry Not Sorry" is a song by American singer Demi Lovato. She co-wrote the song with Sean Douglas, Trevor Brown, William Zaire Simmons and its producer Oak Felder. It was released on July 11, 2017, through Island Records, Republic Records, Hollywood Records, and Safehouse Records, as the lead single from her sixth studio album, Tell Me You Love Me. An acoustic version of the song is included on the deluxe version of the album. A re-recorded version featuring British-American guitarist Slash was released on July 14, 2023, and was included on her first remix album Revamped.
Commercially, "Sorry Not Sorry" reached number six in the US, number one on the international chart of Malaysia, and the top ten in ten additional countries. Its music video was directed by Hannah Lux Davis and released on July 19, 2017. The song was certified platinum in Italy, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, double platinum in Australia, triple platinum in Canada, quintuple platinum in the United States, and diamond in Brazil.
To promote the song, Lovato sang it at house parties after its release. She also promoted the song on several TV programs such as Good Morning America, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show, also at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards and 2017 American Music Awards. It received a nomination for 2017 MTV Video Music Awards in the "Song of Summer" category and again at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards in the "Best Pop" category.
Production
"Sorry Not Sorry" was written by Warren "Oak" Felder, Sean Douglas, Trevor Brown, William Zaire Simmons and Demi Lovato for the latter's sixth studio album, Tell Me You Love Me. The production was handled by Oak with co-production by "Downtown" Trevor Brown and Zaire Koalo. The track was recorded with guidance by Jose Balaguer and Oak in Westlake Recording Studios and SuCasa Recording, respectively, both located in Los Angeles. The engineering of "Sorry Not Sorry" was done by Jose Balaguer, Oak and Chris Galland, added by Nicole "Coco" Llorens and assisted by Keith "Daquan" Sorrells. Manny Marroquin finished the mixing, assisted by Robin Florent and Scott Desmarais. The mastering was done by Chris Gehringer and Will Quinnell at Sterling Sound Studios. All four co-writers provided background vocals. Oak Felder performed the keyboards and also did the arrangement. Felder and Brown programmed the synthesizer, while Koalo programmed the drums.
Felder revealed to Songwriter Universe that the concept of the track was inspired by a phone conversation with his wife which Lovato "connected" to. "It connected specifically for her, because there's a lot of things in her past that people are looking for her to be apologetic for," he added.
Stefan Johnson of production team The Monsters and the Strangerz revealed to Variety that Lovato was conflicted between a track called "The Middle" and "Sorry Not Sorry" as the lead single, in May. Lovato opted the latter, as she called the former "too pop" and Lovato was trying to go "more soulful". The track was eventually recorded by Russian-German record producer Zedd with American electronic music duo Grey with American country music singer Maren Morris.
Lovato told Noisey that she had always wanted "Sorry Not Sorry" to be the lead single of Tell Me You Love Me but her inner circle felt the title track was a better choice "because it's emotional—it's vulnerable". Lovato then played both songs to the founder of Roc Nation, which her management Philymack was partnered with, Jay-Z. "And he said 'Sorry Not Sorry' because it was lighthearted. He was like, 'A lot of people see you do the emotional thing all the time, but they don't see you have fun!' And I was like, 'That's such a good point.' And [his opinion] kind of persuaded other people, too."
Release
On June 29, 2017, Lovato published a trio of pictures on her Instagram and Twitter accounts showing an acronym titled "SNS" causing speculation related to a possible new single. Five days after, the singer confirmed the release of a song via an Instagram video, and teased the instrumental of the track. The following day, Lovato posted a video on her Twitter revealing the title "Sorry Not Sorry". Lovato explained to Amazon Music that "Sorry Not Sorry" is a song for the "haters" with the message "You know what? I'm good now, and sorry I'm not sorry that you may not be loving where your life is at the moment."
Composition
"Sorry Not Sorry" is written in the key of B minor with a tempo of 144 beats per minute in common time. Lovato's vocal range on the song spans from the low note of A3 to the high note of A5. It runs for three minutes and twenty-three seconds.