"Cry Me a River": A Musical Memoir (Day Twenty-Five)

Today's featured article on Wikipedia highlights the song, "Cry Me a River", recorded by "American singer and songwriter Justin Timberlake for his debut studio album, Justified (2002). It was written by Timberlake and Scott Storch with producer Timbaland, and was inspired by Timberlake's former relationship with singer Britney Spears. Jive Records released the song to contemporary hit and rhythmic radio in the United States on November 25, 2002, as the album's second single."

Let us unearth of the musical elements:

"Cry Me a River" is an R&B song with an instrumentation that features clavinet, guitars, beatboxing, synthesizers, Arabian-inspired riffs and Gregorian chants. The instruments are arranged into what critics described as a graceful and mysterious melody. Jane Stevenson of Jam! said the single combines gospel and opera. Tyler Martin of Stylus Magazine enjoyed the way that the song unconventionally mixed a range of experimental sounds. According to Martin, the wave synth affects the real strings to create an unusual dissonance. 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.

As well, "'Cry Me a River' is written in the key of G♯ minor, in alla breve, with a tempo of 74 beats per minute. Timberlake's vocal range spans from C♯4 to B5."

Two additional non-musical bits: First, the "single received generally positive reviews from critics, who considered it a stand-out track on Justified and praised Timbaland's production. It won a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 2004 ceremony." And second, Francis Lawrence, who when all is said and done will have directed three of the The Hunger Games films, also, "directed the music video for 'Cry Me a River' in Malibu, California."