2002 studio album by Faith Hill
Cry is the fifth studio album by American country music singer Faith Hill. It was released October 15, 2002, via Warner Bros. Nashville. The album was Hill's attempt at expanding her crossover appeal following the success of singles like "Breathe", "The Way You Love Me", and "There You'll Be". Hill co-produced the album along with Marti Frederiksen, Byron Gallimore, and Dann Huff.
The lead single, "Cry", peaked at number 12 in the US, and charted internationally. "One" was not released to country radio but peaked at number 7 on the adult contemporary charts. "When the Lights Go Down" and "You're Still Here" were released to country radio. "Baby You Belong" was exclusively released to Japan for the 2002 Disney film Lilo & Stitch.
Upon release, Cry was met with mixed reviews, with critics divided over Hill's focus on pop and R&B influences while largely abandoning the country sound of her previous albums.[1][2] Despite that though, the album sold over 472,000 copies in its first week in the US and topped both the Billboard 200 and Top Country Albums charts. The album went on to sell 4 million copies worldwide and has been certified 2× Platinum by the RIAA. Hill has defended the polarizing creative direction of Cry, telling Billboard that "it was definitely a different record," but that she is still "so proud of [the album]."[3] Cry was ranked at number 179 on the Billboard Top 200 albums of the 2000s decade. At the 46th Annual Grammy Awards, it was nominated for Best Country Album, and won the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for its title track, "Cry".
Content
Cry is led off by its title track, written by Angie Aparo. This song reached number 12 on the country singles charts, the lowest country peak she has achieved with a lead-off single. "When the Lights Go Down" and "You're Still Here" were also released to country radio, peaking at number 26 and number 28 respectively.[3] "One" did not chart on the country singles charts, although it was a top ten adult contemporary hit. "Baby You Belong" was only released as a single in Japan, but was used as the theme song for the 2002 film Lilo & Stitch. The song's music video features clips from the film. The album was produced primarily by Byron Gallimore and Dann Huff, who also worked on 1999's Breathe,[4] with additional production from Hill and Marti Frederiksen.[5]
Singles
"Cry", the title track, was released on August 19, 2002, as the lead single from the album. The song spent 11 weeks atop the Adult Contemporary chart in the US. Internationally, the song was a top 40 hit in eight countries. The music video for the song was later nominated at the 2003 CMT Flameworthy Music Awards for Video of the Year.
"When the Lights Go Down" premiered to country radio on November 19, 2002 as the second single from the record. The song reached number 26 on the country chart, and it peaked at numbers 52 and 64 in Austria and Germany. Its music video would win the nomination for Hottest Female Video of the Year at the 2003 CMT Flameworthy Music Awards.
"One" was released exclusively to adult contemporary radio on April 7, 2003. It peaked at number seven on the Adult Contemporary chart. "Baby You Belong" and "You're Still Here" were the final two singles from the album, with the former being exclusively released to Japan and the latter peaking at number 28 on the Hot Country Songs chart.
Critical reception
Cry received mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 59, based on 8 reviews.[1] Chris Willman of Entertainment Weekly praised Hill for taking stylistic risks but conceded that the album "invites some of the criticism that will inevitably come its way."[7] Billboard wrote that "Cry is a confident effort, with Hill laying claim as queen of" pop-country, however the magazine also described the songs as "sometimes bland" and "repetitive."[6] AllMusic writer Robert L. Doerschuk was ambivalent towards the album's production, writing that "her established skills as a song interpreter are lost in all this sturm und drang and her voice, while undeniably powerful at its peak, doesn't have the range that allows most singers in this style... to at least milk the material."[5]
Rolling Stone found the album to be "contrived" and impersonal, with Barry Walters writing, "[Hill is] an expert in the yelps and sighs that signify pop passion, and what she lacks in personality she makes up for with power, professionalism and unfailing hooks."[9] Robert Hillburn of the Los Angeles Times was particularly critical, rating the album one-and-a-half stars out of four. "The songs ... are mediocre," he writes, "her vocals are rarely convincing, and the arrangements are ham-fisted."[8]
In a piece commemorating Cry's tenth anniversary, Billy Dukes of Taste of Country theorized that most of the polarizing opinions on the album were a result of the "building tension" at the time between country "purists" and listeners who liked Hill's contemporary pop influences.[2]
