| Please Don't Cry | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Rapsody |
| Cover: | Please Don't Cry.jpg |
| Alt: | A low-contrast cutout of Rapsody, hands to her head and covered in fishnetting, against a bold yellow background and a single red digitally painted tear from her right eye. |
| Released: | May 17, 2024 |
| Genre: | Hip hop |
| Length: | 64:51 |
| Label: | |
| Prev Title: | Eve |
| Prev Year: | 2019 |
Please Don't Cry is the fourth studio album by American rapper Rapsody. It was released on May 17, 2024, through the Jamla and Roc Nation labels.
After releasing her previous album, Eve, in 2019, Rapsody began to work on her next musical projects in March 2020. She describes herself as having begun "working on three albums at one time" during this period.[1] Rapsody recounted that, early in the album's development, she struggled with motivation and questioned whether there would be an audience for her music; she told Vulture that those feelings created a mental block she needed to overcome in order to complete the album.[2]
Throughout the development of Please Don't Cry, Rapsody wrote more than 350 songs, from which she selected 22 to appear on the project.[3] In determining which tracks to include, Rapsody expressed that she wanted to prioritize more personal material so that listeners would best understand her:
Shortly after the album was released, Rapsody announced that she would support it with a tour of Europe and North America in September and October 2024.[4]
Please Don't Cry is an introspective album on which Rapsody explores a variety of topics, such as "sexuality, identity, self-preservation, and the plight of Hip-Hop artistry". She has described it as "a love story with the reflection in the mirror".[5] The album employs a framing device where Rapsody portrays herself as attending a therapy session; the therapist, voiced by Phylicia Rashad, appears on the opening track "She's Expecting You" and several subsequent occasions. The principal elements of the album's instrumentation have been identified as "warm bass, crisp percussion, heavenly background vocals, and light chords".[6] It also features greater R&B influences than Rapsody's previous work.
On tracks such as "Look What You've Done", Rapsody criticizes media outlets that sought to praise her by deriding more sexually focused female rappers. The song "DND (It's Not Personal)", a track which discusses the value of solitude, samples Monica's "Don't Take It Personal" and has been compared to G-funk. On "Stand Tall", Rapsody reflects on facing public speculation about her sexuality. "3:AM" is a jazzy song that addresses the topic of romance, and features vocals from Erykah Badu. Rapsody has described the experience of collaborating with Badu as follows:
"Loose Rocks" has an "airy" sound and features Rapsody discussing a relative's battle with dementia. "Never Enough" incorporates reggae elements, and "He Shot Me" reflects on police brutality. Lil Wayne provides a guest verse on the track "Raw". Rapsody has stated that she rewrote her own lyrics "like 27 times" after Wayne submitted his verse,[7] and recalls how collaborating with Wayne inspired her to showcase her strongest lyricism:
In contrast to the more reflective mood present on much of Please Don't Cry, "Raw" has been identified as a more "hard-hitting", lyrically driven track; similar descriptions have been applied to "Black Popstar" and "Asteroids". "Lonely Women" is a "playful" song that discusses masturbation; Its instrumentation is built on "watery synths". Rapsody has stated that her goal with "Lonely Women" was to emphasize the wide variety of ways in which one can discuss sexual topics, and to showcase her own preferred approach to the subject matter. The song "A Ballad for Homegirls" includes a feature from Baby Tate and reflects on the challenges of "yearning for an emotionally unavailable man".
Rapsody has given the following explanation for the meaning of the album title:
Please Don't Cry received positive reviews from critics. Danilo Castro of HotNewHipHop stated that "listeners will be rewarded" for paying close attention to the album, and Robin Murray of Clash remarked that it "just might stand as [Rapsody's] most complete work yet". In particular, Rapsody's emotional openness received commendation: Gary Gerard Hamilton of the Associated Press described the album as "entering a new territory of unapologetic vulnerability", and Pitchfork's Stephen Kearse called it "a vivid affirmation of self and community". Sy Shackleford of RapReviews compared the emotional weight of the album to the TV series This Is Us. Gabriel Bras Nevares of HotNewHipHop praised the album as a soulful and compassionate work where "every piece lends a purpose" to the whole, though he also argued that the album occasionally "spins its own wheels in place thematically or takes too jarring and sharp of a turn off-road". Rapsody's performance achieved acclaim as well, with Kearse stating the opinion that she showcased "all the flows, cadences, and deliveries she's mastered" over the course of the album.
The album's production was also viewed favorably. Nevares felt that the prevailing mood of the production was "calm cohesion" that "highlight[ed] subtle instrumentation in ways that more complicated beats would overshadow". Kearse praised the "lush blends of R&B, gospel, reggae, and trap", and elsewhere compared its sonic palette to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and to Dungeon Family artists. Rapsody's divergences from this core sound received more mixed reviews. Castro felt that tracks like "Black Popstar" employed "hard-hitting instrumentals that liven things up", but Nevares criticized it as "trite trap drum sequencing". Critics also commented on the length of the album, but expressed that they generally found the material substantive enough to justify the runtime.
The guest artists on Please Don't Cry received praise as well. Erykah Badu was especially singled out for providing a "sensational" appearance on "3:AM", in which she was described as "capturing the spirit of grateful heartbreak". Nevares praised Lil Wayne's verse on "Raw" as "charismatic", but felt its mixing to be poor.
Credits adapted from Apple Music.[8]
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Musicians
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