Songfacts®:

• In "I Don't Care," Ed Sheeran finds himself at a party, where he doesn't want to be. He's not used to wearing a suit and tie and doesn't feel he fits in with the other partygoers.
  
  Wonderin' if I could sneak out the back
  Nobody's even lookin' me in my eyes
  Can you take my hand?
  
  Fortunately Ed finds solace in his lover, who puts him at ease.
• Sheeran is joined on the track by Justin Bieber, who covers the same party-going topic on his verse. In the Canadian's instance he is crippled by social anxiety during the function, but again that special someone at his side makes his problems disappear.
• The song is not the first time the duo have collaborated. Previously Sheeran co-wrote "Love Yourself" from Bieber's 2015 Purpose album. The English star also co-penned Major Lazer's 2016 song "Cold Water," which featured Bieber. More recently, the pair both appeared on Lil Dicky's charity track "Earth."
• Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber wrote the song with:
  
  Swedish songwriter-producer Max Martin, who has contributed towards a long list of big-selling hits. They include Britney Spears' "Baby One More Time," Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way," Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" and The Weeknd's "Can't Feel My Face."
  
  Max Martin's frequent collaborator Johann Shellback. The Swedish hitmaker's other writing credits include Maroon 5's "Moves Like Jagger" and Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble."
  
  English producer Fred Gibson, whose resume also includes Clean Bandit's "Solo," Rita Ora's "Let You Love Me" and Jax Jones' "Breathe."
  
  Frequent Bieber collaborator Jason "Poo Bear" Boyd, who co-wrote the majority of the songs on Bieber's Journals and Purpose albums, including the smash hit "What Do You Mean?."
• The song was produced by Max Martin, Shellback and Fred Gibson.
• The song was the first single released from No. 6 Collaborations Project. The title relates to an EP he released back in 2011 – No 5 Collaborations Project – and fulfills Sheeran's long-held dream to do something similar again.
  
  Sheeran told Charlamagne Tha God the album initially started with an idea to collaborate on a song with some of the biggest male pop stars, such as Bruno Mars and Justin Bieber. He compared it to 2001's "Lady Marmalade" which united Christina Aguilera, Pink, Mya and Lil Kim.
  
  "You remember 'Lady Marmalade'? This was such a silly idea," he said. "But I had the idea of doing that and I was like, 'Oh, you could get Bruno, Bieber and me on a record. How fun would that be?'"
  
  Ultimately, the proposed track never came to fruition but Sheeran recorded a series of separate songs instead including "I Don't Care."
• It was Sheeran's wife, Cherry Seaborn, who suggested her husband collaborate with Bieber on "I Don't Care." "Bieber just got married. I just got married," Sheeran told American radio personality Charlemagne Tha God. "That song is about being at [an] industry event with the woman you love, or even the person you love, and kind of being like, 'F--k this, let's just have fun ourselves.'"