“Cry Me A River” became the breakup anthem of the year after Justin Timberlake dropped the track in 2002. The lyrics of the song point to a bad breakup, and one that seemingly involves someone cheating on Timberlake. The musician sings, “You don’t have to say, what you did / I already know, I found out from him / Now there’s just no chance / For you and me / There’ll never be.” Timberlake alludes his significant other had an affair, but he’s not taking them back.
In his 2018 book, “Hindsight: & All the Things I Can’t See in Front of Me,” Timberlake explained the meaning behind the song a bit more. He shared, “I’ve been scorned. I’ve been pissed off. I wrote ‘Cry Me a River’ in two hours.” The musician had to get some things off his chest as the lyrics for the song flowed out naturally. He explained, “The feelings I had were so strong that I had to write it, and I translated my feelings into a form where people could listen and, hopefully, relate to it. People heard me and they understood it because we’ve all been there.”
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Inspiration for “Cry Me A River” hit Timberlake hard, and he left it all out on the table when he wrote the song. With lyrics that include, “The bridges were burned, now it’s your turn to cry / Cry me a river.”
