"Don't Wait Up" is a song by Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira. It was released on July 16, 2021 through Spanish-language music label Sony Music Latin. The song marked Shakira's first all-English single since 2016's "Try Everything" and her first English-language single to not be released by a major general-market label.
Shakira initially announced that a single accompanied with a video would be released in July 2021, in the cover story of the July edition of Vogue Mexico. The singer first teased the single on 12 July, on her social media by changing her profile pictures to a summery color palette, the change resulted in the hashtag "Shakira is coming" to trend worldwide on Twitter. Upon the announcement along with the hashtag Shakira's name immediately started trending on Twitter's worldwide trends. On 13 July, the artist shared a 30-second video of what could potentially be the name and part of the lyrics of her future track. Later the same day Shakira revealed the cover artwork and its title.
Laura English from Music Feeds encapsulated "Don't Wait Up" as "a club-ready banger with a classic EDM beat", calling the phrase "don't wait up" a "classic party line", and described how the song "starts as a slow burn featuring just ShakiraâÂÂs iconic vocals" before "[building] into a modern-era Shakira bop once the chorus comes in though and the beat is delectable". Scott Croker from Idolator characterized how the song "starts slow being quickly speeding up and introducing listeners to an incredibly infectious and catchy chorus". The song was voted the favorite new music release of the week on a poll by Billboard.
The music video for the song was released on 16 July 2021. Directed by Warren Fu, it was filmed on the Spanish island of Tenerife in June 2021. Its cinematography was handled by Carlos Veron. In the video, Shakira showcases her surfing skills and dance moves on the beach, with a choreography and style that hark back to her rise to fame in the late 90s.
Credits adapted from Tidal.