To further establish the ethereal, dreamy sound of Sincerely, Kali Uchis has offered fans the first amuse-oreille, as it were, from the forthcoming deluxe edition of the album, Sincerely, P.S. Titled “Cry About It!” (that exclamation point continuing the trend of each song on the album being accompanied by punctuation), the song features Ravyn Lenae—who’s sure to get a name recognition boost thanks to Uchis—and favors a doo-wop sound that Amy Winehouse herself would surely approve of.
Co-produced by Uchis and Spencer Stewart (best known for his work with Laufey, including most of the songs on A Matter of Time), the rich, layered sonic landscape is complemented by the expectedly divine vocals of Uchis, who urges her listener, more or less, to feel their emotions in the moment so as to purge rather than suppress. And, if anyone knows something about the value of that, it’s Uchis, who lost her mother to lung cancer soon after giving birth to her first child.
The extremes of having those degrees of happiness and sadness arrive back to back are part of what makes Sincerely, such an emotional, intense record. Wherein a track like “Cry About It!” fits right in. And yet, it’s a song that differs from the others thus far in that it’s as much about braggadocio as it is telling someone to mourn and then move on. This ostensible “someone” being the ex-girlfriend of Uchis’ current boyfriend—at least in the “narrative” depicted by this single. Of course, musicians often like to pull the “it’s a fictionalized version of things” card, but there does seem to be a lot of genuine knife-digging aimed at this “mystery woman” Uchis is speaking to, particularly in the verses, “Too bad, so sad/You should cry about it/Llora, llora, hasta que/Ya te deje de doler [Cry, cry until/It stops hurting]/Too bad, so sad/Go cry about it/Cry about it, cry about it/Go cry about it/Yo sé que te duele/Cuando escuchas mi nombre/Sé que me odias/Solo por un hombre [I know it hurts you/When you hear my name/I know you hate me/Just for a man]/Sé que la envidia [I know the envy]/Is killing you softly/Every time I step out/Put the nail in your coffin.”
In short, Uchis is taunting this woman with the fact that she’s superior not just in the looks department, but in every other way. Or at least superior enough to have pulled the guy that said woman used to be with (which, in real life, would point to Don Toliver). However, it’s Ravyn Lenae’s verse that cuts the deepest as she croons, “Creeping under the surface/I know I make you nervous/Tell me, what is the purpose/If it’s out of my control?/Baby girl, take it easy/Losing sleep over envy/Through you, I can see clearly/And I know why you’re hurt.” Although, on the one hand, she tries to offer something like “empathy” for the woman who feels she’s been wronged, on the other, Lenae only helps Uchis twist the dagger in further, essentially brushing off this person’s pain as, well, not really any fault of her own. After all, it’s not like she can control if another woman’s boyfriend is attracted to her, n’est-ce-pas?
To serve the necessary level of cunt on a song of this nature, Uchis appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (with Lenae eventually at her side to deliver her own verse) to embody an angelic aesthetic designed to prove all the more that she’s innocent (“who me?”) in the matter at hand. Thus, appearing on a stage designed to look like a dainty music box as two backup dancers dressed in ballet attire accented said “music box aura”—complete with turning in circles just like the ballerinas of such music boxes typically do. So it is that, with this performance, Uchis underscored the genius of the track, which is delivering a “bitchy” message in a sweet way.
Even so, there remains an aspect of the song that does feel rooted in kindness. This effect achieved by telling someone how to best cope with the pain of loss—whether that means death or another person “stealing” your significant other away from you. With Uchis’ key set of instructions being, “Go cry about it/‘Cause sometimes you just got to cry/You just got to cry about it/So cry about it a bit.” And then, for your own self-preservation, move on. And hopefully, without too vengeful a heart. Perhaps even going the extra mile by “wishing roses” on the person who wronged you.
