In the media it isn’t very uncommon to hear about celebrity gossip, rumors, secrets, and relationships. People are drawn to stories that involve heartbreak, love and stories that have the potential to shock them. Celebrity couples arguably have more potential to fail than a normal relationship because it is constantly being scrutinized by the public eye. More often then not singers that go through break-ups express their feelings, views, and opinions through song. One song that caused a lot of controversy was Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me a River”. People argue that he wrote this song about Britney Spears, which he never confirmed but it is very debatable. In the song “Cry Me a River”, Justin Timberlake expresses anger and resent towards an unidentified person through the use of hurtful hyperboles, motifs, and apostrophe.
Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears seemed like the perfect young couple. So when they broke up it was shock to everyone. In his song “Cry Me a River” came out people started to uncover the hidden story behind it. It turns out that Britney Spears had cheated on Justin with another guy, but still wanted to be with him afterwards. Thus, in this song he expresses his thoughts on what happened between them. The song starts off with “You were my sun/you were my earth” which clearly states that he used to love her but things are different now. The whole first stanza of the song is apostrophe which Justin uses to say exactly what she did to him, “So you took a chance/and made other plans/but bet you didn’t/think that they would/come crashing down” meaning that the woman Justin is referring to saw another guy and expected to get away with it.
In “Cry Me a River” another device that Justin Timberlake uses to express anger towards the woman who has wronged him is hyperboles. The phrase “Cry Me a River” which is repeated throughout the song is a hyperbole that is used to express that no matter how much she cries and begs for him to take her back, he won’t care. This adds to the song and gives the song a clearer tone.
Justin Timberlake also uses multiple motifs in the song. With the repeating lines “The damage is done/so I guess I be leaving” shows that nothing can fix this relationship and there is nothing else to do but leave. Another motif that Justin uses is “Your bridges were/burned, and now it’s/your turn/to cry” which expresses that their bond that ties them together was completely destroyed because she did this to him and now he has cried enough over it and now its her turn to realize what she has done to him. All in all Justin Timberlake is trying to express his point of view of this particular break-up through his song “Cry Me a River.”
