A jazz rap and spoken word song, "We Cry Together" portrays Lamar and Paige as an emotionally abusive couple in the midst of a heated argument that ultimately ends with sexual reconciliation.
[3] The introduction for "We Cry Together" was first teased on March 5, 2020, in the visual mission statement for American rapper Kendrick Lamar's creative collective PGLang.
Derek "MixedByAli" Ali and Cyrus "NOIS" Taghipour mixed it at No Name Studios in Tarzana, with assistance from Curtis "Sircut" Bye and Brandon Blatz.
[7] Lamar's longtime collaborator, Sounwave, revealed in an interview with GQ that "We Cry Together" was one of the earliest songs recorded for Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.
[9][10] It is set in the key of B-flat minor with its lyrics, a representation of "what the world sounds like" according to Alford, follows an emotionally abusive couple, played by Lamar and Paige, in the middle of an intense argument.
[12] Steven Loftin of The Line of Best Fit described the "traumatic and heartbreaking" song as "wonderfully elaborate and horrifyingly real, so much so it feels like a moment you shouldn’t be privy too, as if your neighbors are having a roaring argument through the paper thin walls.
"[13] Stephen Kearse of Pitchfork was impressed by the blow of insults present in the "noxious melodrama", writing that they felt "almost improvised despite being tightly rhymed and metered.
[16] Miloslaw Archibald Rugallini of Sputnikmusic lauded over how the song "creatively implements cadence to balance immersion in the drama, utilizes humor to break the tension of an ugly confrontation, has the characters swap venomous one-liners while sharing flows, and ends with them about to get their fuck on.
He suggests Alford's closing line acts as an "observation of the nature of most quarrels (that their root cause is often ignored in the exchange of ad hominem and finger-pointing) and signposts the confrontation of self that Kendrick actually fucking has in the second half of the album.