Cry

Faith Hill finally owns up to what we knew all along. She may be from deep-dish Mississippi, but she isn't a country singer, and never has been. This babe's a diva now. And, as she says in her best Diana Ross voice on "Free," "There ain't nothin' I can do about it." But what she could exercise some control over, as the coproducer of her fifth studio album, is the quality and style of her particular brand of über-pop, which on Cry considerably ratchets up the noise factor from 1999's Breathe. The songs, many written by tunesmiths long working in Nashville, often come stocked with meaningful messages, i.e. the emptiness of addiction ("If You're Gonna Fly") or the momentary connection with a loved one who has passed on ("You're Still Here"). Yet Hill and company (longtime producers Byron Gallimore and Dann Huff, in conjunction with Marti Frederiksen) obviously think the best way to make an R&B/pop record is to build a huge, airless production around screeching guitars, wall-rattling drums, and Big Mama choirs. The singer herself may be, indeed, turning out her best vocals ever. But the album itself is a self-conscious mess--a big, wallowing cacophony of sound that leaves the listener numb. In the end, it's a miserable failure. This chanteuse's R&B just ain't got no soul.

当年公司的决策失误严重影响了整专单曲的成绩。华纳公司在将单曲派到乡村电台的时候，主动要求减少希尔新歌的播放量，将重心放在成人抒情台、流行台，希望通过它们的播放让人们意识到希尔是一位流行天后。结果只有成人抒情台非常支持。然而，成人抒情台的数据并不足够，导致主打单曲排名都不尽人意。

2002年秋天　35岁的美国乡村-流行新天后Faith Hill推出了个人参与制作的<Cry>，再度拿下排行榜冠军，由于上一张<Breathe>在美大卖800万张，让她成为华纳在美国本土最畅销的女歌手，这张专辑依旧维持上一张倾向成人抒情的Country-Pop型式，虽然仍卖出200多万张，但专辑跟单曲的整体成绩却不如<Breathe>

商业上，这张专辑首周再次空降美国公告牌专辑总榜冠军，以47w的成绩，刷新了乡村女歌手的首周空降记录。然而这个记录只维持了数周就被Shania打破了。专辑最终认证美国双白金；加拿大最高第3，首次打进加拿大周榜前10，认证白金；澳大利亚认证黄金。相比上一张专辑《Breathe》，销量下滑非常多。

专辑依旧维持上一张倾向成人抒情的Country-Pop型式，标志着Hill“向流行天后的转变”的完成，几乎没有对乡村根源表示敬意。 虽然本土卖出两百多万张，但大碟跟单曲的整体成绩却不如上张；这次瞄准国际和AC市场 在乡村电台播出减少, 单曲皆没打入曾经最大市场──乡村榜Top 10，让她下张重回乡村路线。

整体来看，这张专辑本质上是一张流行专辑，问题就在于没有任何突破，清一色的抒情曲。其实也就相当于是希尔以前做得最熟练的东西，把乡村元素再去掉了一些。而希尔毕竟婚姻生活非常幸福，天天秀恩爱，所以唱到一些失恋的歌曲总是表达略显苍白，这专所有抒情歌的通病就在于套路太老了，可以说没有突破。