Cry (Mandy Moore song)

The song tells the story of a girl who thinks the boy she likes is insensitive, until the day she sees him cry. "You were all by yourself, staring up at the dark gray sky, I was changed..." It was not a major hit in the U.S. until the release of Moore's romantic drama A Walk to Remember. Because the song was set to be released around the same time as the film and they had a similar theme, Moore felt that "Cry" would be perfect to be included in the film's soundtrack. The song is one of Moore's favorites on her third self-titled studio album.
Moore said in a Billboard interview that she carried around a copy of the song for over a year before she recorded it. "It felt like my ace in the hole. It's such a beautiful song on every level. I couldn't wait to get into the studio and sing it." She also said that James Renald, the co-writer and co-producer of the song, had to "peel" her out of the vocal booth because she "wanted to sing it over and over again."[1]

The music video was directed by Chris Applebaum and released in 2002. The concept of the video appears to play as a sequel to the film, A Walk to Remember, with Shane West, Moore’s co-star in the film, and Moore portraying their characters, Landon Carter and Jamie Sullivan.

Moore sings the song in what appears to be Heaven in the night sky. West (as his character Landon Carter) drives home from the premiere of A Walk to Remember and watches home videos of him and Jamie’s summer together before she dies of leukemia while mourning losing her. Later that evening he looks up into the night sky with a telescope and thinks he sees Jamie flash before him in the night sky. Uncertain and disheartened by this, he goes to the bedroom, drops down on the bed distraught and falls asleep. Shooting stars appear in the night sky while Carter is sleeping and appear behind Moore for a moment and explode. The next day, Carter goes out with friends where he walks around and sees a window display of Moore's self-titled album, and the theater again with a worker putting the title A Walk to Remember on the front of it and a building covered with the A Walk to Remember movie poster and is stunned by Moore’s resemblance to Jamie.

The music video is included on A Walk to Remember's DVD as a bonus feature. It was also included as a multi-media track on the 2003 special expanded edition of the film's soundtrack.

A Walk to Remember and its soundtrack were a financial success, but the single never entered the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. In Germany, a maxi-CD was also released. To date, "Cry" has sold 15,000 physical copies and 203,000 paid digital downloads according to Nielsen Soundscan.[4]

German/Austrian/Swiss CD single

1. "Cry" (Album Version) - 3:43
2. "Someday We'll Know" (with Jon Foreman) - 3:42

German maxi single (limited edition)[5]

1. "Cry" (Album Version) - 3:43
2. "Only Hope" - 5:53
3. "It's Gonna Be Love" - 3:53
4. "Someday We'll Know" - 3:42

Promo CD single

1. "Cry" (Album Version) - 3:43[6]