It's Okay To Cry

## Music video

"**It's Okay To Cry**" is a song performed by SOPHIE. It serves as the first track from Sophie's debut album, OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES It's the first single from the album released on October 19, 2017.

## Background

Following a string of collaborations after her singles compilation, *PRODUCT*, was released in 2015, Sophie surprise-released the tender “It’s Okay To Cry” with a self-directed video in October of 2017. The video marks the first time she has shown her face in any promotional image or material.

This track is sang by Sophie herself, and it contains background vocals delivered by Cecile Believe.

## Music and composition

SOPHIE in an interview for Interview Magazine:

> I’ve never really thought of it in that way, anyway. The intention has always been to be how I want to be and how I’m comfortable in the world, never to be anonymous. Right now, I’m just going with my instincts, and this is what I feel like doing. I don’t see any difference. It’s just expression. I’m always honest in what I put across.
>
>

When asked by the interviewer if the track would be like a continuation of the previous music or an escape, SOPHIE said:

> "It’s very much the same. I’m still embodying and communicating the way I’m feeling and living at a given moment. In that sense, it is a continuation, because it’s equally an accurate reflection of the person I am, my interests, and what I want to put across to the world — the questions and ideas I want to express."
>
>

## Critical reception

i-D Vice opined:

> "*Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides* opens with *It’s Okay to Cry*. While in many ways the anthemic power-ballard feels more fitting of a closing number, when released back in October, the song and its accompanying video beckoned a new era in Sophie’s career -- her vocals and face at front and centre -- thus setting the tone for a record that offers a different perspective on the, until recently, anonymous Scottish DJ and producer."
>
>

Rolling Stone opined:

> "“It’s Okay to Cry,” the crystalline ballad that opens the album, took us to an unprecedented level of sincerity: “Just know whatever hurts, it’s all mine/It’s okay to cry”."
>
>

## Lyrics

[Verse 1: SOPHIE]

I don't mean to reproach you by saying this

I know that scares you

All of the big occasions you might have missed

No, I accept you

And I don't even need to know your reasons

It's okay, it's okay, it's okay

I think you sometimes forget

I would know you best

I hope you don't take this the wrong way

But I think your inside is your best side

[Chorus: SOPHIE]

I, was that a teardrop in your eye?

I never thought I'd see you cry

Just know whatever hurts, it's all mine

It's okay to cry (It's okay to cry)

I can see the truth through all the lies

And even after all this time

Just know you've got nothing to hide

It's okay to cry (It's okay to cry)

It's okay to cry (It's okay to cry)

It's okay to cry (It's okay to cry)

[Verse 2: SOPHIE]

I remember one time you were lost

I came to find you

And I knocked on your front door

That was you I'd never seen before

And I saw the magazine you were reading

And I read the page

And if I had just one single wish

Wish I could have said this

It's okay to cry

[Chorus: SOPHIE]

I, was that a teardrop in your eye?

I never thought I'd see you cry

Just know whatever hurts, it's all mine

It's okay to cry (It's okay to cry)

I can see the truth through all the lies

And even after all this time

Just know you've got nothing to hide

It's okay to cry (It's okay to cry)

[Bridge: SOPHIE]

There's a world inside you

It's okay to cry (It's okay to cry)

I wanna know what it feels like

It's okay to cry (It's okay to cry)

I wanna go there with you

It's okay to cry (It's okay to cry)

'Cause we've all got a dark place

It's okay to cry (It's okay to cry)

Maybe if we shine some light there

It's okay to cry (It's okay to cry)

It won't be so hard

It's okay to cry (It's okay to cry)

I want to know those parts of you

[Chorus: SOPHIE & Mozart's Sister]

I, was that a teardrop in your eye?

I never thought I'd see you cry

Just know whatever hurts, it's all mine

It's okay to cry (It's okay to cry)

I can see the truth through all the lies

And even after all this time

Whatever it is, just know it's alright

It's okay to cry (It's okay to cry)

It's okay to cry (It's okay to cry)

It's okay to cry (It's okay to cry)

It's okay to cry (It's okay to cry)

It's okay to cry (It's okay to cry)

## Music video

Sophie said about the music video:

"I’m really happy that we managed to realize the video exactly how I imagined it. It’s about this idea of the richness and complexity of our inner and outer worlds — the emotional world and the external world, like the planets, the weather, and the universe. Just being overawed by how surreal, mysterious, and confusing the depth of both inner and outer worlds are. The video encapsulates the quiet, internal world flatly on top of or inside these universal, shifting landscapes, and contemplates how they are related. It’s somewhere in there, that feeling, that I wanted to communicate."

### Visual credits

* Director: SOPHIE
* Co-Director: Nicholas Harwood
* FX Specialist: David Therrien
* Choreographer: Todd McQuade
* VTR: Rob Nowik
* Playback: Ethan Molomut
* Editor: Niles Howard
* Colorist: Arianna Shining Star
* Beauty: Flawless FX
* Visual Effects: Coyote Post
* Additional VFX: Stephen Pagano
* PAs: James Joyner, Carley Solether, Alice Wang, Alexander Powell, Davis Villa

## Trivia

* This is the first SOPHIE song to have an official music video.
* This is the first song that SOPHIE released independently, with her own music label; MSMSMSM.
* With this song, SOPHIE expressed herself publicly as transgender.
* The lyric "And I saw the magazine you were reading. And I read the page" references to the song Ooh, where it says "I get so lonely, life in magazines". And also to Whole New World / Pretend World with the lyric "There's a world inside you".
* This is SOPHIE's first song featuring her own vocal performance.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/sophie-its-okay-to-cry-interview
2. ↑ https://i-d.vice.com/en\_uk/article/wjbkdn/sophie-oil-of-every-pearls-un-insides
3. ↑ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/sophie-okay-to-cry-1121468/