It was written as a collaboration among Green,[1][2] Bruno Mars, his production team the Smeezingtons, and Brody Brown.
"Fuck You" received widespread acclaim from music critics, and was an international commercial success, making the top-10 in thirteen countries, including topping charts in the United Kingdom, and number two on the Billboard Hot 100.
[5][6] These two are essentially identical to the original except in their treatment of profanity; "Forget You" replaces the profanity with sound effects (other than "fuck you", which is changed to "forget you" per the title), and "FU" censors words by simply silencing them except replacing "fuck you" with "eff you" - also as its title suggests.
CeeLo performed a parody of the song, featuring an all-female backing band named "Scarlet Fever", on The Colbert Report on November 9, 2010.
The same thing was done in the German, Japanese and Spanish versions of the video, translating the lyrics, although the vocals remained in English.
[13] The video was directed by Matt Stawski and was filmed at Cadillac Jack's, a movie prop diner located in the Sun Valley area of Los Angeles.
He then attempts to woo the Heartbreaker by having the waitress draw a heart-shaped ketchup mark on her hot dog plate, but the Heartbreaker approaches him with a basket of fries and intentionally spills them on his shirt, leaving a large ketchup stain on it and causing the other diner patrons to laugh at him.
Some parts of the video tend to freeze for a split second when a bowdlerized lyric is being mouthed to prevent the lips from being read.
2 in its 26th chart week (making it one of the slowest climbs ever into the number 2 position) tying it with Cee Lo's previous 2006 hit "Crazy" from his musical duo project Gnarls Barkley as his highest-charting single.
[19] "Fuck You" would go on to share the record with Demi Lovato's 2012 single "Give Your Heart a Break" before it was eventually broken by Alessia Cara's "Here" in 2016.
Jason Lipshutz from Billboard gave "Fuck You" a positive review stating, "it's as sunny as a '60s Motown hit and as expletive-laden as an early Eminem song, a combination that fits the singer's sky-high vocals and offbeat sense of humor well.
Over a twinkling piano line, bumping bass and steady percussion, Green shakes off a failed relationship with a gold digger by packing the simple pleasures of old-school soul music into tongue-in-cheek verses and a suitably soaring chorus.
"[23] Alexandra Patsavas, music supervisor for the Twilight films, praised Mars' ability to veer between "a beautifully crafted pop song exquisitely sung" and the likes of Cee-Lo's "Fuck You".
[26][27] Spin and The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics' poll named "Fuck You" the best single of 2010.
[28] Cee Lo toured with an all-female backing band named Scarlet Fever, performing "Fuck You" on Taratata, at the Reeperbahn Festival, Later... with Jools Holland, Late Show with David Letterman, the 31st annual Children in Need telethon, the Christmas edition of BBC One chart show Top of the Pops, Saturday Night Live and many other venues.
Cee Lo also performed at the 53rd Grammy Awards on February 13, 2011, with actress Gwyneth Paltrow and several puppets provided by The Jim Henson Company.