I Try

"I Try"
Single by Macy Gray
from the album On How Life Is
B-side	"Don't Come Around", "Rather Hazy"
Released	June 27, 1999 (See release history)
Format	Digital download, CD single, 12" maxi single
Recorded	1997
Genre	Soul, R&B
Length	3:59
Label	Epic
Writer(s)	Macy Gray, Jeremy Ruzumna, Jinsoo Lim, David Wilder
Producer(s)	Andrew Slater
Macy Gray singles chronology
"Do Something" (1999) "I Try" (1999) "Still" (2000)

"I Try" is a song co-written and recorded by American musician Macy Gray. It was released in September 1999 as the second single from her debut album, On How Life Is, released in North America in January 2000 (See below). It is Gray's biggest hit to date. It peaked at number six in the United Kingdom, number five in the United States, and number one in Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland.

At the 2001 Grammy Awards, "I Try" won Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, the first to be awarded to an African-American artist winner in the category, since Toni Braxton's "Un-Break My Heart" in 1997, and was also nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. It remains Gray's biggest hit single in the USA to date, and her only one to reach the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. In 2010, the song was featured in an episode of The Office. It was also featured in the series 2 finale of Mrs. Brown's Boys during which it was sung by Brendan O'Carroll and Pat "Pepsi" Shields.

Carly Rae Jepsen performed a cover version of the song on Canadian Idol.

Music video

The video for the song, directed by Mark Romanek, depicts Gray waking up in a hotel room, buying flowers, and traveling through New York City to meet a man in a park.

At the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards, the video won Best New Artist and was nominated for Best Female Video.

Track listing

UK CD 1

1. "I Try" (Album Version)
2. "I Try" (Full Crew Mix)
3. "Don't Come Around"

UK CD 2

1. "I Try" (Album Version)
2. "I Try" (JayDee Remix)
3. "I Try" (Bob Power Remix)

European CD single

1. "I Try"
2. "Rather Hazy"
3. "I Try" (Full Crew Mix - Extended 2 - No Vocoder)

Charts

Release history

References

External links

• Full lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics