"Don't Say You Love Me" is the debut single of M2M, a Norwegian pop duo consisting of singers Marion Raven and Marit Larsen.

M2M performed the song on episodes of the television series One World, Top of the Pops and Disney Channel in Concert.

Two similar music videos were released for the song, with one showing clips from Pokémon: The First Movie – Mewtwo Strikes Back.

[2] "Don't Say You Love Me" is performed in a 4/4 time signature at a moderately slow tempo of 100 beats per minute.

[11] The song's prominent instruments are electric piano and acoustic guitar,[11] with record scratching sounds layering the production in the chorus in a style akin to Hanson's "MMMBop".

[11] Lyrically, the song is about getting "the rules straight on a budding relationship: Slow down and don't say you love me until you give me some time and get to know me.

"[9] According to musicologist Jon Mikkel Broch Ålvik, "Don't Say You Love Me" is the "thinking person's teen pop.

"[12] Ålvik rejects a superficial interpretation that the lyrics are a "moralistic message of abstinence", arguing instead that M2M "signal a stance that sounds considered and assured rather than prudish" and that the song is a statement of "burgeoning agency.

[15] "Don't Say You Love Me" appeared in "The List", an episode in the TV series Felicity that aired in the US on 3 October 1999 and reached an audience of 5 million people, helping to generate interest in the song.

[17] The song was recently being played on Radio Disney[2] before it made its commercial US debut on 26 October 1999 as a CD and Compact Cassette.

[27] The song was released in Japan on 25 January, in Spain on 22 February,[23] and in the UK on 20 March on East West Records.

[30] Robert Christgau gave a positive review, calling the song one of the "impossibly touching" tracks on Shades of Purple that "sets the standard" for the rest of the album.

[8] Chuck Taylor from Billboard said the song would appeal to both the young and mature listeners as it "neatly walks the line between pure pop and the cusp of the adult top 40".

[9] Michael Paoletta, also from Billboard, called the song an "infectious pop rocker", adding that "what's most dazzling about the track is the vocal verve of the girls' harmonizing.

[28] "Don't Say You Love Me" was nominated for the year's best song at the 2000 Spellemannprisen awards, though it lost to Propaganda by Briskeby.

[52] While speaking favourably of the duo, in 2014 Abby Devora from MTV ranked M2M and the song at number 2 on her list "9 Girl Group One-Hit Wonders You Need To Remember Right Now".

[56] In 2020, Taylor Swift included "Don't Say You Love Me" in a Spotify playlist of 51 songs by female artists to commemorate Women's History Month, describing all the artists she selected as "faraway mentors who taught me how music could make someone's life easier and more magical".

[57][58] The accompanying music video for "Don't Say You Love Me" was directed by Nigel Dick and was filmed from 4 until 6 October 1999 at the Mission Tiki drive-in theatre in Montclair, California.

This footage is spliced with M2M singing together at the drive-in, people dancing, the projectionist struggling with his malfunctioning equipment, and the concession stand worker who has an overflowing popcorn maker.

[64] On 9 November 1999, the day before Pokémon: The First Movie – Mewtwo Strikes Back was released, M2M performed the song live at the Warner Bros.