When Justin Timberlake sat down to write his 2002 breakup anthem “Cry Me a River,” the song flowed right out of him.
Without naming ex-girlfriend Britney Spears — who has long been rumored to be the inspiration for the track — the musician, 37, says in his new book, Hindsight: & All the Things I Can’t See in Front of Me, that his intense emotions made songwriting quick.
“I’ve been scorned. I’ve been pissed off,” he explains. “I wrote ‘Cry Me a River’ in two hours. I didn’t plan on writing it.”
“The feelings I had were so strong that I had to write it, and I translated my feelings into a form where people could listen and, hopefully, relate to it,” Timberlake continues. “People heard me and they understood it because we’ve all been there.”
Timberlake also says that he has “unconscious sources of inspiration.”
“One thing I’ve learned is that I have to let the feelings or ideas that inspire me become what they want to be,” writes Timberlake.
