as they showcase a sense of inner strength rather than victimhood like songs from previous decades. With an introduction, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, post-chorus, bridge, and outro, "I Don't Wanna Cry" features a prototypical song structure. It is organized in compound AABA form. Set in common time, the music is played "tenderly" at a tempo of 66beats per minute according to sheet music published by Hal Leonard. "I Don't Wanna Cry" is written in the key of until the first chorus, when modulation to the relative key of occurs. The key reverts to for the next verse. Upon the climax at the final chorus, a key change to takes place. The song concludes in the relative key of . This alternation constructs prosody; lyrics about breaking up ("Only emptiness inside us") are in minor key while those about moving on ("I must find a way of letting go") are in major key. Using a low register during verses and an upper register for the chorus, Carey's vocal range spans two octaves and six semitones from the low note of to the high note of . Her timbre varies between whispering, cooing, and belting with bravura. Critics characterized the latter as occasionally raspy and resembling ugly crying. Aside from producing, Walden plays the drums heard in "I Don't Wanna Cry". Walter Afanasieff worked with the keys and synth bass electronically; Ren Klyce used a Fairlight CMI for rhythm programming. The song features an electric guitar and an acoustic guitar played by Chris Camozzi. They evoke the sound of a Spanish guitar, which was a vogue production choice in the early 1990s. The guitars are soft-sounding and play the melody while the programmed keyboards are heard in the background. As with most Mariah Carey tracks, Bob Ludwig conducted mastering at Masterdisk in NewYork. The album edition of "I Don't Wanna Cry" is four minutes and forty-eight seconds long and an edited version lasts four minutes and twenty-five seconds. Release Along with other ballads such as "Vision of Love" and "Love Takes Time", "I Don't Wanna Cry" forms the mass market appeal of Mariah Carey. It is the third track on the album, which Columbia released on June 12, 1990. By early 1991, the first three singles from Mariah Carey had reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart and the album was in the midst of an 11-week run at