James Hunter of Rolling Stone magazine noted that musically, Jackson was no longer trying to hide any of the eccentricities he had. Hunter expressed the opinion that in "They Don't Care About Us", the pop musician sounded more embattled than ever.
The song reached the top of the charts for three weeks in Germany and stayed a full 30 weeks in the survey. It is the longest consecutive chart run of a Michael Jackson song in the German charts.
In the US, media scrutiny surrounding allegations of antisemitic lyrics were the catalyst for Jackson issuing multiple apologies and re-recording the song with altered lyrics.
The singer countered allegations of antisemitism, arguing that reviews had misinterpreted the context of the song, either unintentionally or deliberately.
According to the sheet music published on Musicnotes.com by Alfred Music Publishing "They Don't Care About Us" is played in the key of D minor and the track's time signature is common time.