Cry Me A River (Justin Timberlake Song) - Reception and Accolades

Reception and Accolades

"Cry Me a River" received generally positive reviews from music critics. It was labeled as a stand-out track on Justified by Jane Stevenson of Jam! and Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine, with Cinqueman further stating that "the string-laden 'Cry Me a River' a stinging farewell (to Britney, perhaps?) featuring beatbox and vocal arrangement courtesy of Timberlake himself". Timberlake's lyrical skills on "Cry Me a River" were praised by B. Malcani of The Situation. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic selected "Cry Me a River" as a "Track Pick" on the album review together with "Rock Your Body", "Like I Love You" and "Right for Me". According to Peter Robinson of NME, "this twisted epic is an acidic, filthy little song teeming with spite and retribution, with Timbaland’s pounding."

Denise Boyd of BBC Music noted that the tracks on Justified that were produced by Timbaland are "flawlessly" mixed, but have a "familiar style that detracts from the originality of the rest of the album". However, according to Boyd, "Cry Me a River" is an exception in which the lyrical content plays as large a role as the production itself. Rolling Stone's Ben Ratliff also wrote that Timbaland's contributions on the album are on a high level, especially on "Cry Me a River". David Brown of Entertainment Weekly concluded that the song is "a genuine stunner" that should leave Timberlake's fellow 'N Syncers concerned that he truly may not need them anymore. John Mitchell of MTV News called both "Cry Me a River" and "What Goes Around... Comes Around" a "kiss-off songs" and according to him, Timberlake's revenge to Spears is present all over the lyrics in both songs.

Rolling Stone critics ranked "Cry Me a River" as the twentieth song on their list of 100 Best Songs of the 2000s. They wrote that the real inspiration behind the song was the formation of the Timberlake-Timbaland team, "a match made in pop heaven". They also placed the song at number 484 on their list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. VH1 ranked "Cry Me a River" at number fifty-nine on their classification of The 100 Greatest Songs of the 2000s. The single won the accolade for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 46th Grammy Awards held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. It was also nominated for Song of the Year at the 2003 MTV Europe Music Awards, but it lost to Beyoncé Knowles' "Crazy in Love" (2003).