Bet You Didn’t Know: Fun Facts Babyface Shared About The Creation Of The Waiting To Exhale Soundtrack
Not Gon Cry
To introduce this song, Babyface played the clip from the movie where Angela Bassett is angrily ripping clothes out of her husband’s closet–to be burned later. Watching that scene, Babyface said he thought, “She’s way too made to cry.” He immediately felt that only one woman could sing this: Mary J. Blige.
Babyface shared that when he played the record for Andre Harrell, who is largely responsible for Blige’s career, he listened and said, “Yeah. I got that. Yeah umm hmm. Alright.”
But as the song ended, he said he didn’t know if it worked for Mary. He argued that because Mary hadn’t been married, she wouldn’t be able to relate to the lyrics. Babyface disagreed saying Mary “is the voice of pain, the voice of love.”
The song ended up being the first number one song of her career.
