"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). The ballad was released as the
album's fourth single in the second quarter of 1991. It became
another U.S. number 1 single for Carey. Like the previous
singles released from
Mariah Carey, the song received a BMI Pop Award.
"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 and because she feels it
"doesn't have a message," Carey stated in a MTV interview that
she dislikes the song and tries to sing it as rarely as
possible. Carey had lobbied to co-produce the song, but was
denied permission by Columbia Records. 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. Walden's protégé at the time, Walter
Afanasieff, later said that he co-wrote and produced the song,
and that in return for giving Afanasieff the work, Walden took
the credit.
"I Don't Wanna Cry" became Carey's fourth number 1 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 reach number 1 on the Hot 100. It also
made
Mariah Careya record-breaking album: every single
released from it was a chart-topper in the U.S. "I Don't Wanna
Cry" reached number 1 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 1 single on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart. It
remained in the top forty on the Hot 100 for thirteen weeks and
was one of four Carey singles on the chart's 1991 year-end
chart, ranking 26. The song also hit number 7 in Canada and
number 49 in Australia but failed to chart elsewhere.
The single's music video, directed by Larry Jordan, features
Carey in a dark Midwest home and in maize, brooding over her
tainted relationship.
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.
"I Don't Wanna Cry" was released as a single on iTunes from
Jason Castro on
American Idol, for which he performed the song on the
show's seventh season.
CD single