Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 16:37, 3 August 2005

"I Don't Wanna Cry" was the fourth single released from Mariah Carey's first album Mariah Carey in the second quarter of 1991 in both the USA and internationally.

Song information

The single was co-written by Carey and Narada Michael Walden and produced by Walden (Carey had fought to co-produce but was denied permission for her first album by her record company at the time, Sony). In this dark brooding ballad, Carey recalls that she "don't wanna cry", but nothing in the world could take her and her lover to where they used to be.

Carey has stated that she dislikes "I Don't Wanna Cry", and tries to sing it as rarely as possible. She feels that the song "doesn't have a message". However, when she first wrote the song with Walden, she was excited because she believed that it sounded like something that would be played on the radio. Carey also has some bad experiences with the production of this track, as she often fought with Walden concerning the song's production. To add even more scandal to this song, it is rumored that Walden didn't even produce the song himself, but that his protege at the time, Walter Afanasieff, actually ghost-produced much of the track.

Chart success

Up to this point in her career, Carey had attained a flawless record of number one singles in the USA on the Hot 100. The three singles that she had released in her career up to this point, "Vision of Love", "Love Takes Time", and "Someday", had all reached number one. Carey continued her streak as "I Don't Wanna Cry" became her fourth number one. The single made her the second act (and first female and first solo artist) in Billboard chart history to have their first four singles make number one on the Hot 100, the first being The Jackson 5 in 1970. It also made Mariah Carey a record-breaking album, as every single released from it in the USA went to number one. Internationally, it was Carey's biggest flop single from Mariah Carey that was also released for the U.S. market, failing to make any chart impact, and not making the charts in numerous countries.

The single was at number one for two weeks, after entering the charts at fifty and taking seven weeks to climb to the top. It was not the quick success "Someday" had been, but was slightly faster than her first two singles. It spent nineteen weeks on the Hot 100; thirteen of those were spent in the top forty; its chart run was shorter than all the other singles from Mariah Carey and its popularity was not very long lasting in the U.S., due to people having already purchased the album, and also due to the earlier singles' lower debut positions, allowing them to take slightly more time to reach the top. Although seemingly not a huge hit, it still ranked twenty-sixth on the year-end charts, a respectible position and was one of four singles from Carey to be in the 1991 year-end charts.

The single reached number one on the Hot 100 Airplay and number three on the Hot 100 Singles Sales chart. A decline in sales was a result of the album having already gone quintuple platinum and still selling highly. Another reason could have been that the main CD single contained no new tracks or remixes of the songs that were elsewhere unavialable, so only fans bent on having a complete collection of her works would have purchased it, however she had gathered enough to propel it to number three. Although becoming a large hit on radio, it only topped the airplay charts for two weeks, but most who wished to listen to the song could do so on the album they had purchased. The single also became Carey's third number-one single on the Adult Contemporary chart, with "Someday" not having huge AC appeal and "I Don't Wanna Cry" becoming a third ballad release from Carey, so continuing the trend of her ballads topping the AC charts. Despite having a more accentuated R&B tone than any of the other three singles from Mariah Carey, it did not impress as much as previous singles on the R&B charts failing to top the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks.

Internationally, it was arguably the least successful of the four singles released from Mariah Carey. Like "Someday" it failed to make the Australian top forty (just making the top fifty) and became her first single in Canada to miss out on the top five, although it did settle in the bottom half of the top ten. Its success was limited by a peak of album sales (the album was at number one the Billboard 200 at the time), considerable lack of promotion and a simple lack of recognition and reuptation outside of America. The last factor would not be rectified until Music Box was released. "There's Got to Be a Way" was released as a single instead of this for the U.K. market; however, it fared no better than this did internationally.

Awards

Making Mariah Carey a record breaking album, not only commercially, but critically, "I Don't Wanna Cry" meant that every single from the album received a BMI Pop Award. Although already having been accomplished by other artists, and it would be accomplished by Carey several times again throughout her career, it was a great success for a first album, reflecting the true impact the album had made on the U.S.. Both this and "Someday" failed to win the title of Song of the Year, which "Love Takes Time" had managed the previous year. "Emotions" was released too late in the year to be considered for the award; however, when it received a BMI Pop Award, it also failed to win the title.

Music video

The music video of the song features Carey brooding in a dark midwestern home about her dilemma. The midwestern influence can be seen in this video, as at one point Carey laments in the cornfields. While she dislikes the song, she is a fan of its music video, as it was the first in which was she was allowed to present a relatively sexy image. Unfortunately for Carey, her uphill climb in her music videos to show more sex appeal would once again go down, and she would not show her sex appeal again for another six years, with 1997's "Honey".

Part of an alternative version of the music video was released to consumers on The First Vision DVD/home video, and in 1999 the original, more familiar version was included on the DVD/home video version of #1's as a director's cut. The 1991 version had a few sepia-toned sequences that were eliminated and replaced for the DVD release. (Unlike the other videos from her debut, which were not included, "I Don't Wanna Cry" was included, as Carey is proud of the video's relative sex appeal.)

Remixes

Although no remixes exist of the song, a radio edit exists that shortens portions of the song.

Tracklistings of major single-releases

USA CD single (cassette single/7" single)

1. "I Don't Wanna Cry" (album version)
2. "You Need Me" (album version)

Comprehensive charts

USA

Chart trajectory

International

Official remixes/versions list

• "I Don't Wanna Cry" (album version)
• "I Don't Wanna Cry" (radio edit)

External links

I Don't Wanna Cry lyrics — lyrics for the album version of "I Don't Wanna Cry"

• Mariah Carey singles
• 1991 singles
• Number One singles