"I Try" is a song co-written and performed by American musician

Macy Gray Natalie Renée McIntyre (born September 6, 1967), known by her stage name Macy Gray, is an American R&B and soul singer and actress. She is known for her distinctive raspy voice and a singing style heavily influenced by Billie Holiday. Gray ha ...

. The song was released on September 27, 1999, as the second single from her debut album, ''

On How Life Is ''On How Life Is'' is the debut studio album by American singer and songwriter Macy Gray. It was released on July 1, 1999, by Epic Records and Clean Slate. Produced by Andrew Slater, it became Gray's best-selling album to date, selling 3.4 million ...

'' (1999). It is Gray's most successful single to date, peaking at number six in the United Kingdom, number five in the United States, number two in Canada, and number one in Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand. At the 2001 Grammy Awards, "I Try" won

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a female in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The awar ...

, and was nominated for

Record of the Year The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without reg ...

and Song of the Year. It remains Gray's biggest hit single in the US to date, and her only one to reach the top 40 of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song was used in the TV sitcom ''

Spin City ''Spin City'' is an American sitcom television series that aired from September 17, 1996 to April 30, 2002, on ABC. Created by Gary David Goldberg and Bill Lawrence, the show is set in a semi-fictionalized version of the New York City mayor' ...

'', when

Michael J. Fox Michael Andrew Fox (born June 9, 1961), known professionally as Michael J. Fox, is a Canadian-American retired actor. Beginning his career in the 1970s, he rose to prominence portraying Alex P. Keaton on the NBC sitcom ''Family Ties'' (1 ...

's character, Michael Flaherty, was leaving his job and moving from NYC; the actor was also leaving the series after he had announced that he had

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

. In 2010, the song was featured in an episode of ''

The Office ''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries. The original series o ...

''. It was also featured in the series 2 finale of ''

Mrs. Brown's Boys ''Mrs. Brown's Boys'' is an Irish television sitcom created by and starring Brendan O'Carroll and produced in the United Kingdom by BBC Scotland in partnership with BOC-PIX and Irish broadcaster RTÉ. The series stars O'Carroll as Agnes ...

'' during which it was sung by

Brendan O'Carroll Brendan O'Carroll (born 17 September 1955) is an Irish actor, comedian, director, producer and writer. He is best known for portraying foul-mouthed matriarch Agnes Brown on stage and in the BBC and RTÉ television sitcom '' Mrs. Brown's Boys''. ...

and Pat "Pepsi" Shields. In 2018, the song was featured in an episode of '' The Last Man on Earth''.

Critical reception

'' Daily Record'' called the song "soulful", noting that

"has one of the most distinctive singing voices around."

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for the song, directed by American filmmaker

Mark Romanek Mark Romanek (; born September 18, 1959) is an American filmmaker whose directing work includes feature films, television, music videos and commercials. Romanek wrote and directed the 2002 film ''One Hour Photo'' and directed the 2010 film '' Neve ...

(who had previously directed the video for Gray's "

Do Something DoSomething (also DoSomething.org) is a global nonprofit organization with the goal of motivating young people to make positive change both online and offline through campaigns. The organization's CEO is DeNora Getachew. History The organizatio ...

"), depicts Gray waking up in a hotel room, buying flowers, and traveling through

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, traveled through by bus and train to meet a man in a park. At the end of the video, Gray is shown to still be in her hotel room. It is implied that she may have been dreaming the entire time and that none of the events in the video actually occurred. At the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards, the video won

Best New Artist The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since 1959. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for records released in the previous year. The award was not presented in 1967. The official guidelines are as ...

and was nominated for

Best Female Video The MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video is one of the original general awards that has been handed out every year since the first annual MTV Video Music Awards in 1984. In 2007, however, the award was briefly renamed Female Artist of the Y ...

and Best New Artist in a Video. Gray presented the award for

Best Pop Video The MTV Video Music Award for Best Pop was first given out in under the name of Best Pop Video, as MTV began to put several teen pop acts in heavy rotation. Nominations, however, were not just limited to pop acts, as dance, R&B, pop/rock, and reg ...

alongside LL Cool J.

Track listings

* UK CD1 # "I Try" – 3:59 # "I Try" (Full Crew Mix) – 5:21 # "Don't Come Around" – 4:20 * UK CD2 # "I Try" – 3:59 # "I Try" (JayDee Remix) – 5:55 # "I Try" (Bob Power Remix) – 3:51 * UK cassette single # "I Try" – 3:59 # "Don't Come Around" – 4:20 * European CD1 # "I Try" – 3:59 # "Rather Hazy" – 3:10 * European CD2 # "I Try" – 3:59 # "Rather Hazy" – 3:10 # "I Try" (Full Crew Mix—extended II—no vocoder) – 5:27 * Australian CD single # "I Try" – 3:59 # "Rather Hazy" – 3:10 # "Do Something" (Black Apple Mix edit) – 3:33 # "I Try" (Full Crew Mix—extended II—no vocoder) – 5:27

Credits and personnel

Credits are lifted from the ''

'' album booklet. Studios * Recorded and mixed at Paramount Studios,

Sunset Sound Sunset, also known as sundown, is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon due to Earth's rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth (except the North and South poles), the equinox Sun sets due west at the moment of both the sprin ...

, and

A&M Studios The Jim Henson Company Lot, formerly A&M Studios, is a studio property located just south of the southeast corner of North La Brea Avenue and Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Originally established by film star Charlie Chaplin, the property serv ...

(Hollywood, California) Personnel * Macy Gray – lyrics, music, back-up vocals * Jeremy Ruzumna – music, organ * Jinsoo Lim – music * David Wilder – music, bass *

Jon Brion Jon Brion is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and composer. He performed with the Excerpts, the Bats, 'Til Tuesday and the Grays before becoming an established producer and film score composer. Brion has ...

– guitars, piano, orchestra bells * Bendrix Williams – guitars *

Patrick Warren Patrick Warren (born March 26, 1957) is an American musician, composer, and record producer. He is known for his work on the films ''Magnolia'', ''Fifty Shades of Grey'', '' Boogie Nights'' and ''Red State'', as well as the television series ' ...

–

Chamberlin The Chamberlin is an electro-mechanical keyboard instrument that was a precursor to the Mellotron. It was developed and patented by the American inventor Harry Chamberlin from 1949 to 1956, when the first model was introduced. There are several ...

Matt Chamberlain Matthew Chamberlain (born April 17, 1967) is an American session musician, drummer, producer and songwriter. Biography Life and career Chamberlain was born in San Pedro, California on April 17, 1967. He began learning how to play the drums ...

– drums * Lenny Castro – percussion * Andrew Slater – production *

Dave Way Dave Way is an American producer, mixer and audio engineer based in Los Angeles, California, United States. He has worked with Fiona Apple, Sheryl Crow, Kesha, Pink, Christina Aguilera, Macy Gray, Ringo Starr, Shakira, Phoebe Bridgers, John Doe, Sa ...

– recording, mixing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 1990s ballads 1999 singles Macy Gray songs Music videos directed by Mark Romanek Number-one singles in Australia Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Number-one singles in New Zealand Contemporary R&B ballads Songs written by Jeremy Ruzumna Songs written by Macy Gray 1999 songs Epic Records singles Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance