of Rocky Mountain News felt that Jackson cries the lyrics "I can't do it by myself". The song's lyrics and themes are similar to the ones in Jackson's 1988 single "Man in the Mirror" and his 1992 single "Heal the World". "Cry" is composed in the key of A major and the song's time signature is common time. "Cry" has a moderate metronome of eighty four beats per minute. The single is built in the chord progression of A–G/A–A–A/G in the verses and A–A/G–D–A in the chorus. Jackson's vocal range spans from D3 to E5. Critical reception Jason Elias of AllMusic describes "Cry" as a moody and reflective piece of material reminiscent of Jackson's Quincy Jones-produced ballads for Bad, and indicates the song's themes are those of alienation and sorrow rather than love. He believes the strength of the strings, the competent backing vocals, and the keyboard figures prevent the listener from convulsing with laughter at Jackson's "oh-so-pained delivery" and interjections of "Hold on" or "Oh my!" Jon Pareles of The New York Times called the track the "change-the-world-song" and wrote that the single "applies its grand buildup to one of pop's strangest utopian schemes," which was asking everyone to cry at the same time, at which point Jackson may answer their prayers. Catherine Halaby of Yale Daily News felt that the song is a "less triumphant use of a contemporary's input" on the album. NME music critic Mark Beaumont believed that Jackson "starts banging creepily on about" the lyrics which pertain to saving the children. Frank Kogan of the Village Voice noted that while "Cry" and another song from Invincible ("Speechless") are "very pretty", they give the impression that Jackson's "standing sideways, so as to let the beauty slide off him." Los Angeles Times staff writer Robert Hilburn wrote that the track "fills the social commentary role" of Jackson's "Man in the Mirror" (1988), while Hartford Courant rock music critic Roger Catlin believed that the single is a redux to Jackson's "Heal the World" (1991). Newsday staff writer Glenn Gamboa said that the song was "equally average" to other tracks on Invincible. James Hunter of Rolling Stone magazine wrote that R. Kelly "more or less succeeds with the kind of life affirming number" on the single. Jim Farber of New York's Daily News wrote that in "Cry", Jackson "goes into his healing-the-world shtick, though rarely has he been this