In this R&B/hip-hop jam, Mariah Carey is plagued by thoughts of a past relationship that are keeping her up all night long. Snoop Dogg joins her on the track and tries to coax her out of her funk, saying, "Now you know you look too damn good to be crying."
In her 2020 memoir, The Meaning Of Mariah Carey, the singer said this was inspired by her brief love affair with Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees. "Once, I was feeling intensely melancholy while recalling our short love affair to a friend," she explained. "There was so much energy surging through my body that the champagne glass I was holding completely shattered. I took that intensity and put it in 'Crybaby.'"
This samples the bass line from the song "Piece of My Love" by the R&B band Guy. Mariah wasn't vibing with any of producer Damizza's suggestions until he played her the 1988 tune. She loved it and immediately envisioned it as a Snoop collaboration, but Damizza had to hustle to get it done in time. "I had to FedEx the track the next day, or it wouldn't make the album. I was like, 'You want me to get Snoop Dogg, get this song together and get mixed, mastered, everything, in one day?'" he recalled to Billboard in 2016. "I called Snoop Dogg, and he was like, 'I got this thing going on and I can't leave the house - you'll have to come to the house to do it.' I was like, 'OK, I guess I'm gonna drive out to Snoop's house.' He had a studio. We got there, and Snoop said, 'This is friggin' amazing, I'm ready let's go in booth."
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