Justin Timberlake’s Cry Me A River ‘lie’ exposed after 22 years in huge pop cover-up-Lillie Rohan-Entertainment – Metro

Ever since pop music began, singers have been ‘secretly’ collaborating with other musicians in the recording studio in hopes of making an ordinary song a great song.

Some of these collaborations are well known, like Mick Jagger singing the iconic chorus of Carly Simon’s 1972 hit, You’re So Vain. But others are more of a secret like John Legend’s background vocals on Estelle’s 2008 American Boy collaboration with Kanye West. 

While it’s hard to say exactly what song has the greatest guest vocalist cover-up, it seems Justin Timberlake’s 2002 hit single Cry Me A River is currently making waves as its ‘secret’ singer has been revealed.

The song, which was released as the second single to the 43-year-old singer’s debut album Justified in the early 2000s and is rumoured to be about his ex-girlfriend, Britney Spears, was an immediate success. 

Winning multiple MTV Video Music Awards and a Grammy for best male pop vocal performance, it also became a chart topper in the UK and the US.

However, it seems not everyone knows that some of the best vocals on the hit, the whiny but infectious falsetto ‘Cry me, cry me’ drawl on the outro, aren’t from Justin. Who knew?!

English musician Marsha Ambrosius, 47, recently sat down for an interview with The Shade Room, during which she reminded fans that she performed the background vocals, outro and ad-libs on the single. 

One of Justin’s biggest hits features vocals from a surprising singer (Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for iHeartRadio)

Marsha sang backup vocals and ad-libs (Picture: Jim Ruymen/UPI/Shutterstock)

Justin released the chart topping song in 2002 (Picture: Steve Eichner/Getty Images)

Singing the outro of the song during the interview, she smiled as she admitted: ‘it was that, I’m the barbeque.’

She further explained that the term is something she has seen on X, formerly Twitter: ‘Apparently, according to Twitter, that was ‘oh did you hear that vocals? He can absolutely come to the barbecue’, but years later, they would actually find out that that part was me.’

Marsha clarified her comments were not made to ‘shade the rest of the song’ because Justin is a great singer but she said X was ‘relentless’ when fans found out she is ‘the barbecue sauce on the song’. 

Marsha was credited on the song, however many fans were surprised to learn of her involvement (Picture: Earl Gibson III/Shutterstock)

The confession sparked many mixed reactions from fans, with raisingayoungking commenting under the video: ‘Now I gotta go RE-listen to “CRY ME A RIVER” because that falsetto was def the best part! Justin you played me for a fool 😂 I’m appalled’. 

Averyhardhiphop added: ‘Her doing it on the spot exactly how it sounds in the song is elite 🔥👏👏👏’. 

Queezo862 said: ‘The music industry is all deceptions and lies at this point 😂😂’

While vine4012 wrote: ‘I love learning stuff like that in music. Kinda refreshing 🔥.’ 

Justin won a Grammy for the song (Picture: Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

The song is rumoured to be about Justin’s ex-girlfriend, Britney (Picture: Barry King/WireImage)

Although Marsha’s involvement in the song surprised fans, it was never a secret, and she was credited in the album’s liner notes. 

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times in 2014, she recalled how she ended up on the single admitting it was because they sound the same.

‘I went into the booth, matched my vocal with Justin’s and did it a couple of times to get the feel, which is why barely anyone knows I’m on the song because we sound the same. I sang that ‘You don’t have to say, what you did’ [line], did the outro.’ 

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