Sometimes I can get really obsessed with a song. You love it so much that you want hear it over and over and over again, to the point where you have just heard it way too many times, making you hate it. Examples would be, in my case: Unfaitful by Rihanna, Scars by Papa Roach and Frozen by Madonna. They are still in my top 100 because they meant a lot to me in a certain period of my life, and of course I still love the songs because in my opinion they are excellent, I simply do not feel the need to listen to them very much anymore. They do not impress me.

There are a few songs though, that I can listen to fivehundred times, and even then I do not get sick of them. One of those songs is Cry Me A River by Justin Timberlake. Now, if you have been reading more blogs, you will probably think that this is not very surprising: I obviously like mainstream RnB and hip hop, so Justin Timberlake would fit that description quite well. However, at the time Cry Me A River (awesome video by the way, though I love this very creative version even better) was a big hit, I was totally not into pop music. Quite the opposite actually, I hated everything mainstream and I was only listening to Mudvayne, Papa Roach and even a very charming Dutch band called Dreadlock Pussy.

So when one day at school the teacher allowed one of the students to put on music and this guy chose to have Cry Me A River on repeat for 1,5 hours (I kid you not), I was a bit annoyed. It was a creative class so it should have been nice background music, but I was super alternative, being half gothic / half skater girl, totally struggling with everything, so I was not cool. However, I kind of already developed a thing for hip hop and RnB in the years before, and secretly I did not hate this song. I still did not like Justin Timberlake, because as a hardcore Spice Girl fan I simply could not accept NSync (the Backstreet Boys were a way better match for the Spice Girls!) as a boy band, and after they broke up I was still not digging Justin Timberlake with his pearly white teeth and macaroni style hair.

So when Mr. Timberlake was out having major hits like Rock Your Body, Senorita and SexyBack, I was not really into that. When I saw the video of My Love I did start to develop a bit more appreciation for Justin, but it was not until a few years later that I really started to listen to his albums out of free will 😉 . And I must say, from his older albums I mostly dig the depressing songs (yep, still me!) like Losing My Way, but I did not mind listening to it.

When I really became a fan of Justin Timberlake, was when a colleague of mine bought the wrong tickets for his concert. It was in the O2 Arena two years ago (which I know specifically because I got my Keely Rutherford tattoo done on the same day) in the beginning of April. My colleague accidentally bought two tickets that were sitting seperate from eachother, so he quickly bought new tickets for his family and was now having two extra tickets that felt a bit useless to him.

Well, they did not feel useless to me! I was very curious about the O2 Arena and I thought it was a great excuse to visit my favorite European city again (the tattoo idea came later 😉 ). Plus, I was kind of curious if I would feel that Justin Timberlake magic when I would see him play live. This colleague was an amazing person, and he gave me the tickets as a gift, super awesome! So I booked my tickets to London and there I was, in a very steep high seat in the super huge arena. Even though I had a burning back because of my tattoo, and I was alone sitting next to all these English 15-year old girls going ballistic, it was amazing.

I was so impressed by the show Mr Timberlake was making out of it. It was for my fave album of his: The 20/20 Experience, and the way he performed ‘Give Me What I Don’t Know I Want’ and the opening with ‘Pusher Love’ were mindblowing. I really was flabbergasted by how this one guy rocked a stadium full of people. The way he carried himself, the way everything was arranged so perfectly. I mean, I know Justin Timberlake is not a guy, it is a brand, a company with many people working their bottoms off to get this show done, but I could not believe how cool and comfortable Justin was on stage, it was very inspiring somehow.

Anyway, this blog was supposed to be about this one song of his right, Cry Me A River. It is such a good song. The emotion in it is so good and really understandable, the beats are amazing, it is a song I simply cannot not dance to. Gotta move! I mean, again it is one of the more sad songs, but it has so many elements in it: resentment, hate, sadness, honesty, it is great! It is not a very poetic song, the lyrics are very easy and very straightforward, but there are some nice bits and pieces in it, like “you didn’t know all the ways I loved you”. It mainly is the emotion that he uses singing it. I am not much of a gossipy magazine person, but I honestly believe this must have had to do with Britney Spears, it feels so freaking real!

But, to answer the question: Could Cry Me A River be the best song ever? I think looking at the whole package, so including the video, the performer and multi talented person Justin Timberlake is (that guy can act pretty well too you know?) it is a close call. I have a few other songs that I think are brilliant and I can listen to them 1000 times without getting annoyed by them. My Way by Usher is a good example of that, or a few songs by Papa Roach and Slipknot, but Cry Me A River would definitely be in my top 3 all time favorite songs. Here, Justin, I’ve picked honesty! 🙂