I Don't Wanna Cry

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"I Don't Wanna Cry"

Single by Mariah Carey
from the album Mariah Carey
B-side(s)	"You Need Me"
Released	April 25, 1991 (U.S.)
Format	CD single, cassette single, 7" single
Genre	Pop/R&B
Length	4:49
Label	Columbia
Writer(s)	Mariah Carey, Narada Michael Walden
Producer(s)	Narada Michael Walden
Chart positions
#1 (U.S.) #7 (Canada) #49 (Australia)
Mariah Carey singles chronology
"Someday" (1991)	"I Don't Wanna Cry" (1991)	"There's Got to Be a Way" (1991)

"I Don't Wanna Cry" is a song written by Mariah Carey and Narada Michael Walden, and produced by Walden for Carey's debut album Mariah Carey (1990). It was released as the album's fourth single in the second quarter of 1991 (see 1991 in music). The protagonist of this ballad says that she "don't wanna cry", but nothing in the world could take her and her lover to where they used to be. It became another U.S. number one single for Carey, but elsewhere was a major commercial disappointment. Like the previous singles released from Mariah Carey, the song received a BMI Pop Award.

1 Composition and recording
2 Chart performance
3 Music video
4 Track listings
5 Charts
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Composition and recording

"I Don't Wanna Cry" was Carey's first single that she did not co-write with Ben Margulies. When she and Walden first wrote the song, she was excited because it sounded like something that would be played on the radio. Because of bad experiences during its production, Carey stated in an MTV interview that she dislikes the song and tries to sing it as rarely as possible, as she feels that it "doesn't have a message".^{[citation needed]} Carey had lobbied to co-produce the song, but was denied permission by Sony/Columbia, her record label at the time. She often fought with Walden in the studio concerning the song's production and as a result Walden became her least favorite among the producers who worked on her debut album. It is rumored that Walden didn't even produce the track himself, but that his protege at the time, Walter Afanasieff, actually ghost-produced much of it.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Chart performance

"I Don't Wanna Cry" became Carey's fourth number-one hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, making her only the second act (and first female and first solo artist) after The Jackson 5 to have their first four singles make number one on the Hot 100. It also made Mariah Carey a record-breaking album, as every single released from it was a chart-topper in the U.S. It reached number one in its eighth week and spent two weeks at the top, from May 19 to June 1, 1991. It replaced "I Like the Way (the Kissing Game)" by Hi-Five, and was replaced by Extreme's "More Than Words". The single became Carey's third number-one single on the Adult Contemporary chart. It remained in the top forty for thirteen weeks and was one of four singles from Carey on the Hot 100's 1991 year-end charts, ranking twenty-sixth.

Outside the U.S., it was one of the least successful of the singles released from Mariah Carey. Like "Someday", it failed to make the Australian top forty and became her first single in Canada to miss the top five, although it did make the top ten. "There's Got to Be a Way" was released as the album's fourth single in the UK instead of "I Don't Wanna Cry".

[edit] Music video

A scene from the music video.

The single's video, directed by Larry Jordan, features Carey brooding in a dark midwestern home and in cornfields over her tainted relationship. While she dislikes the song, she is a fan of its video, as it was the first in which was she was allowed to present a relatively sexual image.^{[citation needed]}

Part of an alternative version of the music video was released on the DVD/home video The First Vision (1991), and the original, more familiar version was included on the DVD/home video #1's (1999) as a director's cut. The 1991 version had a few sepia-toned sequences that were eliminated and replaced for the DVD release. It was the only video from Carey's debut album to be included on #1's, because she was ashamed of the three previous music videos.

[edit] Track listings

U.S. CD single (cassette single/7" single)

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

[edit] Charts

Chart (1991)	Peak position	No. of chart topper
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	1 (2 weeks)	4th
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks	2	—
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary	1 (1 week)	3rd
U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40	1 (2 weeks)	4th
Canadian Singles Chart	7	—
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	49	—

[edit] See also

Hot 100 number-one hits of 1991 (USA)

[edit] External links

Preceded by "I Like the Way (The Kissing Game)" by Hi-Five	Billboard Hot 100 number-one single May 25, 1991- June 1, 1991	Succeeded by "More Than Words" by Extreme