Title from a popular Mandarin song, 原来你什么都不想要

So, why 不想要 rather than 不要? What is the difference?

What is the 想 doing there?

I would like to hear from people here?


basically in this sentence both of them have the similar means is 'don't want' or 'don't need',but 不想要 may more emphasizes the subjective idea of 'want'. As it is one sentence of the lyrics,maybe they just want to express strong emotions or just matching with melody.


Without other context, "什么都不要" can mean "don't need anything" (什么都不要) or "don't want anything"(什么都不要)

什么都不想要 can only mean "don't want anything". Therefore it is more specific. we don't have to guess it is "don't want" or "don't need"

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