“I can’t believe she did that to me”: Justin Timberlake Wrote One of His Biggest Hits After an Awful Call With Ex-girlfriend Britney Spears

In an interview, Justin Timbalandmade said that the song ‘Cry Me A River’ was written after he and Britney Spears got into a phone argument.

 

2002 couldn’t have been summed up better than by Cry Me A River. Not only did it solidify Justin Timberlake’s solo career, stepping far beyond the boyband bubble of NSYNC, but it also became a soundtrack for heartbreak. The track was released months after Timberlake and Britney Spears’s high-profile breakup.

In his memoir, Hindsight & All the Things I Can’t See in Front of Me, Timberlake revealed that he penned the song as a means to channel his feelings of ‘scorn‘ following the end of his relationship with Spears. Also, in one interview, he talked about the song, which won the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, explaining how he wrote that song aimed at her.

Justin Timberlake Wrote Cry Me A River After a Call With Ex-girlfriend Britney Spears

Following the release of Cry Me a River, Justin Timberlake spoke with MTV News, choosing not to explicitly confirm if the song was about anyone specific. He emphasized that songs could draw inspiration from personal experiences or hypothetical scenarios.

“I’m not going to specifically say if any song is about anybody,” he told the publication.
“I will say writing a couple of songs on the record helped me deal with a couple of things. To me songs are songs. They can stem from things  that completely happened to you personally or they can stem from ideas that you think could happen to you.”

However, in 2011, Timberlake changed his stance, revealing that the song was born out of frustration after a contentious phone argument with Britney Spears. He described entering the studio visibly angry during that period.

“I was on a phone call that was not the most enjoyable phone call,” he said at the time. “I walked into the studio, and he [Timbaland] could tell I was visibly angry.”

In his 2018 autobiography, Hindsight, Justin Timberlake talked about the song released in November 2002: (Via PEOPLE)

“I’ve been scorned. I’ve been pissed off. The feelings I had were so strong I had to write it. 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.”
Acclaimed producer Timbaland was also interviewed in that same 2011 article. “I was like, ‘Man, don’t worry about it’ and he was like, ‘I can’t believe she did that to me’ and he was like, ‘You were my sun, you were my earth,‘” Timbaland recalled.

What Did Britney Spears Say About Cry Me A River?

Britney Spears addressed the Cry Me A River rumors a few times over the years, including telling Rolling Stone that Justin had warned her – somewhat – about what to expect from the music video.

She said her ex called her and told her: ‘And by the way, you’re in a video that’s coming out. Don’t worry about it. It’s not a big deal.’

The record label advised her that she had the power to change the music video if she so wanted, but she declined.

‘Then it came out, and I said, “I should’ve freakin’ said no to this s**t!”’
Britney Spears in Baby One More Time video
She claimed she called him immediately after seeing the music video, asking why he did it, to which he allegedly responded: ‘Well, I got a controversial video.’

‘And I was like, “You did. Yay for you.” So he got what he wanted.’

Now, Timberlake is married to 7th Heaven actress, Jessica Biel. They have a son together named Silas Randall Timberlake.