Released on June 11th, 2021 along with the EP Taste of Love, the English version of “Cry For Me” was first announced in May along with the announcement of the tracklist of the Taste of Love EP.
Background of “Cry For Me” English Version
First, “Cry For Me” was released in a Korean version. The audio of “Cry For Me” was released on December 18th, 2020, weeks after their first performance at the Mnet Asian Music Awards, or also known as MAMA. The new concept that came with “Cry For Me” was a more mature and dark concept of TWICE, thus the catchiness of the song making ONCE demand an official release of the song. The Korean version of this song was then released on December 18th, 2020, and it could be listened through music streaming sites or through JYP Entertainment’s YouTube Channel.
Story of “Cry For Me” English Version
Same as the Korean version, the English version of “Cry For Me” is produced by Lindgren. The song is also composed by Ryan Tedder, Melanie Joy Fontana, Michel “Lindgren” Schulz, and A Wright. While the lyrics for the Korean version were written by Heize and Park Jin-young or JYP, for the English version, Sophia Pae joined in writing the lyrics. The theme of the lyrics of “Cry For Me” is pretty much the same. The part where the members sing, “I want you to cry, cry for me” still remains in the English version, and the highlight where Chaeyoung sings, “I want you to die for me” is also unchanged. “Cry For Me” is the third part of the trilogy consisting of “More & More”, “I Can’t Stop Me”, and now “Cry For Me”. “More & More” is a pure song about wanting more from the lover and also about temptation. While in “I Can’t Stop Me”, the girls are battling about doing what they shouldn’t do and can’t stop themselves. Eventually, they find themselves in a toxic relationship that leads to the song “Cry For Me”. In the “Cry For Me” lyrics, there’s a duality about someone who wants to forgive their lover or just take revenge by breaking their lover’s heart as much as they broke their heart. At the MAMA, there’s an iconic performance titled Paradise Lost by TWICE. In that performance, an apple is used as a prop. The performance begins with “More & More”, then continues with “I Can’t Stop Me”, to then reach its climax with “Cry For Me”. In the middle of the performance, Jihyo takes the apple right at the end of the “More & More” performance. The apple in their performance is a symbol of the forbidden fruit that Eve ate in Eden. It also can be interpreted as love because when someone takes an apple it can also be interpreted as forming a relationship with the one they love, there’s no turning back and when it gets sour, it can be toxic. At the end of the “Cry For Me” performance, there’s a bitten apple. In Korea, Apple translates as sagwa (사과) which can also mean “apology”. In the lyrics of “Cry For Me”, the girls seem to be torn between forgiving their lover and taking revenge, but there’s a line where they will forgive their lover if they show some remorse or sincerity.
“Cry For Me” English version Performance
As of now, there’s still no official performance of the song. But the Korean version of this song was been performed several times, not only at the Korea Award Show or End Show Ceremony, but also at The Kelly Clarkson Show.
