"Cry Me a River" is a pop ballad [1] with an instrumentation that features clavinet, guitars, [2] [1] beatboxing, [3] synthesizers, Arabian-inspired riffs and Gregorian chants. [4] The instruments are arranged into what critics described as a graceful and mysterious melody. [4] Jane Stevenson of Jam! said the single combines gospel and opera. [5] Tyler Martin of Stylus Magazine enjoyed the way that the song unconventionally mixed a range of experimental sounds. [6] According to Martin, the wave synth affects the real strings to create a strange dissonance. [6] The song's chorus devolves into a choral reading in which Timberlake pleads over the group. "Cry Me a River" finishes with a Timbaland vocal sample. [6]
"Cry Me a River" is written in the key of B major, in common time, with a tempo of 74 beats per minute. [1] Timberlake's vocal range spans from C♯4 to B5. [1] Billboard magazine critics called "Cry Me a River" a bittersweet funk song, in which Timberlake's "familiar tenor belting" is tempered with a soulful falsetto and a "convincingly aggressive rock-spiked baritone" rasp. [7] David Browne of Entertainment Weekly labeled the song "a haunted, pained farewell". [8]
Lyrically, the song is about a brokenhearted man who moves on from his past. [9] A Rolling Stone reviewer called the song a "breakup aria". [10] According to Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian, "Cry Me a River" stands out for its "slow-building sense of drama", which highlights Timberlake at his "husky best". [11] The song begins with the phrase "You were my sun, you were my earth", which according to Timbaland was Timberlake's inspiration to write the song. [12] [1] Tanya L. Edwards of MTV News observed that Timberlake was wronged and said this is demonstrated by the lyrics: "You don't have to say whatcha did / I already know, I found out from him / Now there's just no chance." [13] The chorus contains the lines: "Told me you loved me, why did you leave me all alone / Now you tell me you need me when you call me on the phone." [14] Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani called Timberlake's 2007 single " What Goes Around... Comes Around" an ostensible sequel to "Cry Me a River" both lyrically and musically. [15]
Notes
was invoked but never defined (see the
help page).huffington
was invoked but never defined (see the
help page)."Cry Me a River" is a pop ballad [1] with an instrumentation that features clavinet, guitars, [2] [1] beatboxing, [3] synthesizers, Arabian-inspired riffs and Gregorian chants. [4] The instruments are arranged into what critics described as a graceful and mysterious melody. [4] Jane Stevenson of Jam! said the single combines gospel and opera. [5] Tyler Martin of Stylus Magazine enjoyed the way that the song unconventionally mixed a range of experimental sounds. [6] According to Martin, the wave synth affects the real strings to create a strange dissonance. [6] The song's chorus devolves into a choral reading in which Timberlake pleads over the group. "Cry Me a River" finishes with a Timbaland vocal sample. [6]
"Cry Me a River" is written in the key of B major, in common time, with a tempo of 74 beats per minute. [1] Timberlake's vocal range spans from C♯4 to B5. [1] Billboard magazine critics called "Cry Me a River" a bittersweet funk song, in which Timberlake's "familiar tenor belting" is tempered with a soulful falsetto and a "convincingly aggressive rock-spiked baritone" rasp. [7] David Browne of Entertainment Weekly labeled the song "a haunted, pained farewell". [8]
Lyrically, the song is about a brokenhearted man who moves on from his past. [9] A Rolling Stone reviewer called the song a "breakup aria". [10] According to Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian, "Cry Me a River" stands out for its "slow-building sense of drama", which highlights Timberlake at his "husky best". [11] The song begins with the phrase "You were my sun, you were my earth", which according to Timbaland was Timberlake's inspiration to write the song. [12] [1] Tanya L. Edwards of MTV News observed that Timberlake was wronged and said this is demonstrated by the lyrics: "You don't have to say whatcha did / I already know, I found out from him / Now there's just no chance." [13] The chorus contains the lines: "Told me you loved me, why did you leave me all alone / Now you tell me you need me when you call me on the phone." [14] Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani called Timberlake's 2007 single " What Goes Around... Comes Around" an ostensible sequel to "Cry Me a River" both lyrically and musically. [15]
Notes
was invoked but never defined (see the
help page).huffington
was invoked but never defined (see the
help page).