"I Try" is a song co-written and performed by American musician Macy Gray. Issued as the second single from her debut album, On How Life Is (1999), the song was first released in Japan as a double A-side with "Do Something" on July 23, 1999. Later that year, on September 27, it received its first solo release in the United Kingdom. "I Try" is Gray's most successful single, 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, and was nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

Daily Record called the song "soulful", noting that Macy Gray "has one of the most distinctive singing voices around."^[2]

The music video for the song, directed by American filmmaker Mark Romanek (who had previously directed the video for Gray's "Do Something"),^[3] depicts Gray waking up in a hotel room, buying flowers, and traveling through New York City, 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.^{[4][original research?]}

At the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards, the video won Best New Artist in a Video and was also nominated for Best Female Video. Gray presented the award for Best Pop Video alongside LL Cool J.^[5]

Credits are lifted from the On How Life Is album booklet.^[13]

Studios

• Recorded and mixed at Paramount Studios, Sunset Sound, and A&M Studios (Hollywood, California)

Personnel