Cry (Faith Hill album)

Cry is the fifth studio album by American country music singer Faith Hill. It was released October 15, 2002, via Warner Bros. Nashville and sold 472,486 copies in its first week, a career best for Hill. The album was intended as a crossover project for her, and although three of its singles were released to country radio, none reached the top ten. The title track and "One" were both adult contemporary hits, however, with the former spending 11 weeks at number one.

Upon release, Cry was met with mixed reviews, with critics divided on the lack of country influences. 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]." Cry ranked at #179 on the Billboard Top 200 albums of the decade 2000–09.

Content
Cry is led off by its title track, written by Angie Aparo. This song reached #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 #26 and #28 respectively. "One" was not released to country radio, although it was a #7 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 and 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, with additional production from Hill and Marti Frederiksen.

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. 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." 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." 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."

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." 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."

In a piece commemorating Cry's tenth anniversary, Billy Dukes of Taste of Country theorized that the polarizing opinions on the album were a result of the "building tension" at the time between country "purists" and fans of the contemporary pop influences.

Commercial performance
Cry debuted at number one on both the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and the all-genre Billboard 200 chart dated November 2, 2002. The album sold over 472,000 copies in its first week, marking a career high sales week for Hill and also setting a new record for the largest first-week sales figure by a solo female country artist since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991. It spent three non-consecutive weeks at the top position on the former.

Personnel
• Faith Hill – vocals
 * Performance credits

• Greg Barnhill – background vocals

• Bekka Bramlett – background vocals

• Lisa Cochran – background vocals

• Marti Frederiksen – background vocals

• Lisa Gregg – background vocals

• Chris Rodriguez – background vocals

• Edmund Stein – vocals

• Crystal Taliefero – background vocals

• Tim Akers – keyboard
 * Music credits

• Rick Baptist – trumpet

• Bob Becker – viola

• Charlie Bisharat – violin

• Bekka Bramlett – tambourine

• Denyse Buffum – viola

• Paul Bushnell – bass

• Eve Butler – violin

• David Campbell – arranger, conductor

• Darius Campo – violin

• Matt Chamberlain – drums

• Susan Chatman – violin

• Jeff Cobble – lead guitar

• Vinnie Colaiuta – drums, tambourine

• Larry Corbett – cello

• Jim Cox – piano, Hammond organ

• Eric Darken – percussion

• Mario deLeon – violin

• Joel Derouin – violin, concert master

• Erika Duke – cello

• Bruce Dukov – violin

• Earl Dumler – oboe

• Stephen Erdody – cello

• Stefanie Fife – cello

• Marti Frederiksen – acoustic guitar, percussion, electric guitar

• John Fumo – trumpet

• Matt Funes – viola

• Byron Gallimore – electric guitar, clavinet, sampling, slide guitar, drum loop, sampled keyboards, synthesizer accordion

• Armen Garabedian – violin

• Berj Garabedian – violin

• Endre Granat – violin

• Lynn Grants – viola

• Maurice Grants – cello

• John Hayhurst – viola

• Dan Higgins – tenor saxophone

• Jim Hoke – autoharp

• Jim Horn – tenor saxophone

• Dann Huff – guitar

• Damon Johnson – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, slide guitar

• Suzie Katayama – cello, conductor, string conductor

• Peter Kent – violin

• Michael Landau – acoustic guitar, electric guitar

• Sam Levine – tenor saxophone

• Dane Little – cello

• Diane Little – cello

• Erik Lutkins – drum loop

• Michael Markman – violin

• Miguel Martinez – cello

• Robert Matsuda – violin

• Chris McHugh – drums

• Jerry McPherson – guitar

• Doug Moffett – baritone saxophone

• Jamie Muhoberac – organ, keyboard, Wurlitzer

• Carole Mukogawa – viola

• Steve Nathan – keyboard

• Maria Newman – violin

• Sid Page – violin

• Toss Panos – drums

• Sara Parkins – violin

• Dean Parks – acoustic guitar, gut string guitar

• Joel Peskin – baritone saxophone

• Bob Peterson – violin

• Tim Pierce – acoustic guitar, electric guitar

• Kazi Pitelka – viola

• Karie Prescott – viola

• Bill Reichenbach Jr.- trombone

• Michele Richards – violin

• Steve Richards – cello

• Mark Robertson – violin

• Annie Roboff – drum loop

• Matt Rollings – piano

• Haim Shtrum – violin

• Leland Sklar – bass

• Jimmie Lee Sloas – bass

• Dan Smith – cello

• Rudy Stein – cello

• David Stenske – violin

• Michael Hart Thompson – guitar

• Mari Tsumura – violin

• Josephina Vergara – violin

• Evan Wilson – viola

• John Wittenberg – violin

• Margaret Wooten – violin

• Cynthia Wyatt – harp

• Jonathan Yudkin – mandolin, cello, bazouki

• Producer: Faith Hill, Marti Frederiksen, Byron Gallimore, Dann Huff, David May
 * Production credits

• Engineers: Jeff Balding, Jeremy Blair, Steve Churchyard, Ricky Cobble, Dennis Davis, Allen Ditto, Jason Gantt, Mark Hagen, Julian King, Erik Lutkins, Michael McCoy, Brian Paturalski

• Mixing: Serban Ghenea, Mick Guzauski, Tom Lord-Alge, Mark O'Donoughue, Tim Palmer, Andy Wallace

• Mixing assistant: Tim Roberts

• Remixing: Elliot Scheiner

• Mastering: Robert Hadley, Tom Lord-Alge, Bob Ludwig, Doug Sax

• A&R: Jeffrey Aldrich, Danny Kee

• Assistants: Jeff Balding, Tom Bender, Greg Burns, Eric Gallimore, Jed Hackett, Femio Hernández, Judy Kirschner, Brett Patrick, Dennis Rivadeneira, Tim Roberts, Jaime Sickora, Steve Sisco, Matt Snedecor, Dann Thompson, Alex Uychocde, Patrick Woodward, Mike Zinczenko

• Digital editing: Ricky Cobble, Dennis Davis, Marti Frederiksen, Jason Gantt, Erik Lutkins, Chris Rowe, Josh Wilbur

• Authoring: Spencer Chrislu, David Dieckmann

• Production coordination: Ann Callis, Mike "Frog" Griffith

• Drum programming: Vinnie Colaiuta, Frank Macek

• Keyboard programming: Eric Carter

• Programming: Dann Huff, David Lyndon Huff, Chris McHugh, Tedd Tjornhom

• Overdubs: Byron Gallimore

• Sequencing: Byron Gallimore

• String arrangements: Paul Buckmaster, David Campbell, Jim Cox

• Orchestra manager: Suzie Katayama

• Art administration: Sandra Westerman
 * Visual and imagery

• Graphic coordinator: Raena Winscott

• Librarian: David Horn

• Hair stylist: Serge Normant

Awards
Grammy Awards