Faith Hill Cry Album Deep Dive
Faith Hill’s iconic Cry album was released in 2002. Look back at the album’s success 20 years later with chart stats, awards, live performances, country music and pop domination commentary, and more from that era. I’ll talk about the singles “Cry,” “When The Lights Go Down,” “One”, and “You’re Still Here.”
Artists Featured: Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Martina McBride, Lee Ann Womack, Kellie Coffey, Rebecca Lynn Howard, Dolly Parton, Lucinda Williams, Pink, Toby Keith, Kenny Chesney, Trisha Yearwood, LeAnn Rimes, Reba McEntire, and Shania Twain.
View the show notes below - or click to the button to listen to the 16-minute podcast.
Show Notes
Today's episode, we are gonna do a deep dive into one of my favorite albums ever. I'm talking about Faith Hill and her Cry album. Now, this album, it's celebrating twenty years since its release, and Faith posted something recently on Instagram that's got fans talking.
Here’s the post that she put on Instagram.
There are a lot of fan theories out there. I've got some thoughts on it too, but we are gonna do a deep dive into this album.
We'll talk about the songs, the singles, music videos, chart positions, we're gonna get into all of that. Plus, a look back at some interviews that Faith did around that time. So, if you're ready, let's get started.
In 2001, the Breathe era was ending, and I'm not gonna talk too much about that record. I'll save that for another episode.
But in January of 2001 to kind of set this scene for you, the final single from Breathe, “If My Heart Had Wings,” was released and landed at number three at country radio. She took the Academy of Country Music Award for Top Female Vocalist for the third year in a row. And in that summer, “There You’ll Be,” which was from the Pearl Harbor soundtrack, was released that summer. It hit number eleven on the country charts, and it was an even bigger pop and adult contemporary hit.
With Faith pregnant with her and Tim's third child, the rest of the year in terms of her career was relatively low key. She ended up only playing one show that year for the opening of a venue in Canada. We saw her perform “There Will Come a Day” on a 9/11 telethon. We also saw her at the CMA's where she was nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year, which Lee Ann Womack won that year, but Tim McGraw did take home Entertainer of the Year for the very first time. As 2002 kicked off, Faith kept winning the Favorite Female Country Artist at the American Music Awards, and Tim would accept that award for her. He was in LA while she was in Nashville with their newborn.
A few months later, Faith landed a huge spot on the Oscars. She performed “There You’ll Be. Songwriter Diane Warren was nominated for Best Song, and it was just a beautiful performance. It was an awesome red carpet. Remember that rainbow looking dress she wore? It was multicolored, with some pastel colors. She looked beautiful.
Around this time on country radio, it was very heavy on patriotic songs. You know, post 9/11, if you have the word “America” in your song title or somewhere in your song, you were basically guaranteed a top ten hit. Not only was Faith Hill in between projects, so were a lot of superstar female artists like Reba, Trisha Yearwood, LeAnn Rimes, they were all reliable hitmakers and a lot of them dominated the crossover scene, but they were in between projects at this time.
Martina McBride continued to be a leading force in country music at this time. Toby Keith and Kenny Chesney, they stepped into headliner status. They both launched their first arena tours, big albums debuting on the Billboard Top 200. Country music was kind of shaking things up a little.
Music City was quick to sign any type of knock off acts to capitalize on the crossover success that acts like Faith experienced. And that same industry would be the first to tear down the album that Faith would release that fall.
In August of 2002, "Cry” was sent to radio. It's very emotional and goes into a big chorus, which we've heard with radio hits like “It Matters to Me” and “Breathe.” It's obviously very pop, but it didn't feel out of place on country radio. Strong power ballads were favored. In 20002, you had Martina McBride’s “Where Would You Be,” Kellie Coffey with “When You Lie Next to Me,” and Rebecca Lynn Howard's “Forgive,” which was a top fifteen hit that summer.
Faith originally cut the song “Forgive” by Rebecca Lynn Howard, but ultimately scrapped it when she found the song "Cry.” That was one of songs that Faith was planning to record for that album. I remember reading in “Country Weekly” that she sent Rebecca Lynn Howard a flower and thanked her for the song, but said she ultimately passed. That all worked out for Rebecca because she scored her very first big hit with it.
When Faith was talking to 60 Minutes, she did say when she was looking for songs for the Cry album, it took them two years. They're starting almost the time that Breathe is being released, so late 1999, early 2000. She said she went from 10,000 songs down to the final tracks that appeared on that album.
As we're moving into fall, the video premieres on CMT. We're seeing a big promotional push on radio and TV. Faith is on “Late Night with David Letterman” - that's where she performed “Cry.” Then Faith joined a very short list of country performers invited to play “Saturday Night Live.” It aired on October 12, with Sarah Michelle Geller hosting and Faith performed “Cry.” Fans got to hear “Free” for the very first time, too.
And in today's world, you might see several country artists on late night TV in any given single week. This was simply not the case in 2002. Only the biggest names like Faith Hill got that coveted spot and she was an artist who helped bring country music to the mainstream. We'd also see Faith perform "Cry" at the Billboard Awards later that year.
On October 15, after all these major promo appearances, the album Cry is released. With 472,486 sold, it debuts at number one on the Billboard country charts and the Billboard Top 200, the all-genre tally. This gives Faith her biggest opening week at that point of her career. Those are giant numbers. If albums sell ten to twenty thousand copies opening week nowadays that's considered successful.
The single "Cry” reaches number twelve on the country charts, but proves to be an even bigger pop hit, spending an incredible eleven weeks at number one on the AC chart.
With "Cry” already peeking at country radio, her team chooses “When the Lights Go Down” as the next single. She performs at the CMA awards and receives a standing ovation. As country music slowed the number of females that they were playing on radio, it affected acts like Faith who typically shot to the top ten in no time. The song would reach number twenty-six on the charts. So that was her lowest performing single since 1993’s “But I Will” from her debut album.
As the year ended the album Cry was certified double platinum for two million in sales. It ranked as the ninth best-selling country album of the year.
Faith’s second primetime concert special aired in November. It was filmed out in California, and it heavily showcased songs from the Cry album. There was a special rendition of “Breathe” with special guest Carlos Santana, and it was just a beautiful performance.
In January of the new year, Faith was once again crowned Favorite Female Performer by the People's Choice Awards.
Faith also returned to the Grammy stage where she performed "Cry”. The song was nominated for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. The other nominees were Martina McBride with “Blessed,” Dolly Parton’s “Dagger Through the Heart,” “Lately” by Lucinda Williams, and Lee Ann Womack’s “Something Worth Leaving Behind.” This would be Faith’s fourth nomination in the category, and it would become her second win.
Country radio continued to be dominated by male acts. When “You’re Still Here” was released in the spring of 2003, a new remix version of the song was heard. They were hoping to appeal to that more traditional favored crowd, so there was a steel guitar-infused version that was created. During the second annual CMT Flameworthy Awards, Faith premiered the song, and she also won the Hottest Video of the Year for "When the Lights Go Down.”
The single "You’re Still Here” gained enough traction to reach number twenty-eight on the country charts. Although contemporary radio still wasn't welcoming the album, she would score a top ten adult contemporary hit with “One” and “Baby You Belong” was a hit over in Japan. While her singles were done at country radio, the album sold strongly enough to become the fifth best-selling country album of 2003. She even scored a Grammy nomination for Best Country Album at the 2004 ceremony.
Nashville had a formula for making records in the nineties, and it was common for artists to release an album every single year. Most of these albums contained ten tracks with at least three or four really strong singles. You always had a ballad, maybe a duet, or a gospel inspired number. And I think it's safe to say that Faith's first two albums partially followed that pattern when they were released in 1993 and 1995. But we saw her take an artistic leap in 1998 with Faith, giving us a glimpse of a more soulful sound. Then Breathe added the electric guitars with the polished and big sound to it. The Cry album was the album we got to experience a more unleashed artist.
I feel like we got to really know her on this album. I think it brought the best up-tempo numbers we've heard from her. And the album seemed to be a creative process that appeared fulfilling. It could have been so easy to just do “Breathe,” part two, but I think she challenged herself to create something new that suited her. She was a thirty-five-year-old international superstar and this album captured a lot of her influences, but she was also opening up in a way that we've never seen before.
You had so many A-list songwriters like, Matraca Berg, Amy Mayo, Pink even had a co-write on one of the songs. The song selection was incredible. She vocally did something different, the instruments were unique, so much effort was put into this record.
Faith didn't tour for a number of years. When the 2000 Soul 2 Soul tour ended, it would be 2007 when the second installment of that tour was launched. By that point, the follow-up to Cry, Fireflies had already been released. With the exception of a few, not very many songs from Cry had been performed live.
She did "Cry” on the 2007 tour. Then in the fall of 2007, she released The Hits. “Cry” appeared on that compilation as did a live version of "Stronger.” Faith also performed “Stronger” on the “Late Show with David Letterman.” In 2017, both “Cry” and “Free” were highlights of Soul 2 Soul III.
The Cry album made a big enough impact to land at number 179 on the list of best-selling albums for the entire decade. That's an incredible feat.
As a fan, there's a piece of me that wants justice for Cry. Here we had an artist truly becoming more at ease with revealing songs, just being more personal. And twenty years ago, it caught flack for not being middle-of-the-road country.
Yet Faith was very upfront that this album explored multiple musical sides. Look at country radio today. They're straight up rap and hip-hop attempts, and these artists insist that it's country. The pop versus country debate was a hot topic in the early 2000s, and Faith Hill's name was always inserted into those debates. Were people in the industry jealous of her international theme?
Absolutely.
When you're at the top, people will tear you down. And as much as I would love to see more shows or have new music. I don't blame artists like Faith who worked endlessly, made a lot of other people money, dealt with criticism with every move they made, I respect their decisions to only work and release what inspires them. I'd much rather listen to artists who only have a handful of truly authentic records then hearing all these artists constantly releasing halfhearted E.P. CDs just for the sake of content.
What do I think Faith is going to announce or reveal about this special secret Cry project that she has in the works? There's a number of possibilities. She could always do a vinyl record. She hasn't reissued any of her previous albums on binyl. I know the Christmas record was on vinyl, I believe. The album that her and Tim did, that's on vinyl. I don't think anything has been released as a solo vinyl release, so that's always a possibility. We see that a lot with big anniversary years of projects being rereleased on vinyl.
There's always the possibility that maybe an expanded deluxe version of this album is going to be released with maybe live versions, outtakes, who knows?
That's also a possibility, that’s what I have in my heart, then I hope so much will come true. I would love to see Faith perform this album in its entirety. You know, maybe it's at the Ryman in Nashville?
It would be so cool to see her do all of these songs that have been a part of my life for twenty years. I was a teenager when this record was released, and you're so easily influenced by what you consume. And lucky for me, I had people like Faith Hill who were good influences in my life, musically. That album was such an important part of my musical upbringing. Maybe if she doesn't want to do just one show, I would welcome a full-on tour, playing some cool iconic venues.
I'm not talking about arenas. It would just be so cool for it to focus on her and the music because these songs don't need embellishments or lights, props, anything. These songs, like, “Stronger” or “I Think I Will” - there's so much about the lyric and the emotion behind it, so to see her perform these would be absolutely incredible.
In 2002, Faith did an interview with a Gainsville outlet, and she said, “I'm a very honest person.
I don't want my record to sound like everybody else's. I don't want to do what everybody else is doing. That's not inspiring to me.”
In an interview with Westwood One Faith said, “I think it's a very soulful album because of the songs I selected and the way the album is produced. But the most important thing is that I want people to know how much I love music.”
With her superstar status, Faith Hill was being sent the best song from the top songwriters.
In that same interview with Westwood One, she said, “With this album, I really sent a message to them. If you think something is too far for me, send it. If you think it's not far enough for me, send it. I wanna hear everything you possibly have, and they did. There's just some songs on this record that I feel so blessed to have. I feel like this is the first album I've ever really been able to capture what I do live.”
One very interesting thing in the Instagram post from Faith was when she said, “This is the album that made me feel confident when performing live.”
I mean we're talking about somebody who's been performing for over a decade. She's been nominated for entertainer of the year, she's been on these huge tours.
For her to say that she was only starting to become confident at that point in her career, that's very revealing. And I hope there's more to come with that because Faith Hill live is incredible. So maybe by the time that you've listened to this podcast, perhaps she will have an update on what she has in store for 2023. But until then, let me know what your favorite songs from this album are.
Let me know any theories you might have for what Faith has up her sleeve for next year. Again, I just love this album. Their production. It's aged very well. I feel like I'm getting like this inside look to Faith Hill ind I'm almost the age she was when she released this album. So it's kind of a cool little part of my life to relive this album and do a little deep dive.