Cry Baby is the debut studio album by American singer and songwriter Melanie Martinez, released on August 14, 2015, through Atlantic Records. Following her appearance on The Voice in 2012, Martinez developed the album as a concept record, centered on a fictional character of the same name, which she used to explore themes of emotional vulnerability, family conflict, and troubled relationships.
Musically, Cry Baby has been described as a pop and alternative pop album that incorporates toy-like sounds, synth-driven production, and hip-hop-influenced beats. Martinez drew on imagery of childhood and domestic life throughout the record, as she reworked them into narratives addressing abandonment, abuse, romance, and emotional isolation. She directed and styled the album as well as all of its accompanying music videos, which together form a continuous visual storyline.
The album was released in multiple formats, including vinyl, CD, cassette, and digital download, with physical editions featuring special packaging and an illustrated storybook written by Martinez. Three singles were issued from the album, including "Pity Party", "Soap", and "Sippy Cup". In 2020, the deluxe edition track "Play Date" gained renewed attention after going viral on social media platforms, and it led to the album's re-entry on the Billboard 200.
Cry Baby received generally positive reviews from critics, who commented on its cohesive concept and distinctive aesthetic. Commercially, the album debuted at number six on the Billboard 200 and later achieved multi-platinum certification in the United States. Martinez supported the album with the Cry Baby Tour, which ran from 2015 to 2016 and included shows across North America and Europe.
Martinez had participated in The Voice since 2012, the period when she was in high school, and she started to gain popularity from there.[1] In May 2014, she released her debut extended play produced by Kinetics & One Love,[2]Dollhouse,[3] which is composed of four tracks.[4] In October, she released the video for "Carousel".[5]
Martinez directed and styled Cry Baby, in addition to the music videos featured on the album.[6] According to her, she wanted to name the record as Cry Baby, since she had been "teased as a kid for being super emotional" because she "took things way too seriously".[7] Working on the album, Martinez stated that she had been "very emotional and super personal", and making the character Cry Baby assisted her to "deal with [her] own insecurities", saying that she could "throw it all onto Cry Baby" instead of herself.[8]
Martinez described "Mrs. Potato Head" as a song about "feeling the need to change how you look to fit a certain standard", inspired by the idea of pulling apart and rearranging the toy's face as a metaphor for plastic surgery.[9]
Noted as a pop[10] and alternative pop record,[11]Cry Baby is a concept album[12] where Martinez focuses on the inner conflicts and painful romance of family life.[13] According to Popdust, the album adapts assemblage of "toy-like sounds and textures", which frames a narrative centered on a young girl confronting themes such as "abandonment" ("Pity Party"), "bloody terror" ("Sippy Cup"), "exhilarating love" ("Training Wheels"), "crippling heartache" ("Soap" and "Alphabet Boy"), "glossy optimism" ("Mad Hatter"), and "emotional emptiness" ("Pacify Her").[11] Lyrically, Cry Baby is a "twisted blend of childhood naïveté, teenage angst, and adult apathy, all of which are sung over creepy synths and hard-hitting hip-hop beats".[9]
Martinez draws on imagery of "youth and family" in the several songs such as "Carousel", "Training Wheels", and "Milk and Cookies"; she reworks them into R&B- and electro-infused songs that address "familial strife, abuse, and romance gone wrong".[14] She also constructs a world of "enchanted transgressions and human-consuming flaws", using these motifs to encourage listeners to "reconsider" their own experiences.[11]
Release and promotion
Marketing and packaging
On July 17, 2015, the cover artwork for Cry Baby was officially revealed,[15] and merchandise bundles were available to pre-order on Martinez's website[16] with the digital pre-order and track list on July 24.[17] In October, she visited Billboard studio to perform "Pity Party" and "Soap".[8] With an interview in December, Martinez revealed that she would release the music videos for all tracks of the album.[18] "Alphabet Boy"'s music video was revealed on June 2, 2016,[19] and a double feature music video for "Tag, You're It" along with "Milk and Cookies" was released on August 23.[20][21] The remaining music videos were "Pacify Her" (November 16, 2016),[22] "Mrs. Potato Head" (December 1, 2016),[23] and "Mad Hatter" (September 23, 2017), serving as the conclusion to the Cry Baby visual story.[24]
In April 2020, one of the deluxe edition's bonus tracks, "Play Date", reached the Viral 50 songs on Spotify, as it was featured in 2017 film Call Me By Your Name.[25] It resulted from a popular trend on multiple platforms where users make an edit that repurposed the song's opening-verse title phrase as the punchline to a previously unheard piece of dialogue.[26] On May 1, 2020, the song was certified Gold by RIAA, and as of December 8, it has been certified Platinum.[27] On May 26, Martinez released the lyric video for the song.[28]
Cry Baby was released on August 14, 2015, through Atlantic Records, as digital download, CD, vinyl, and audio cassette tape formats.[29] The vinyl and CD contained special packaging, which includes a storybook that follows the album by illustrator Chloe Tersigni.[30] The storybook became available in the pre-order bundle features rhymes and illustrations based on the album, written by Martinez herself.[31]
Singles
Three singles were released from Cry Baby,[32] which failed to chart in Billboard Hot 100.[33] Martinez debuted "Pity Party" on June 2, 2015, as the lead single from the album.[34] Its music video was released on June 1 through YouTube.[35] The song was certified Platinum by RIAA.[36] In June 30, 2016, Martinez performed the song in Jimmy Kimmel Live.[37] The second single was "Soap"; it was released on July 10.[38] Its music video was released on November 19, as a double feature with "Training Wheels".[39] The song was certified Platinum by RIAA on February 28, 2020.[40] "Sippy Cup" was chosen as the third and last single from the album on July 31; Martinez released its snippet three days before, and on July 30, Spin premiered the song's music video, serving as the second part of her 2014 single, "Dollhouse".[41]
The Cry Baby Tour was the second concert tour by Martinez, in support of Cry Baby. It consisted of nine legs and 124 shows, beginning on August 26, 2015, in Charlotte, North Carolina.[42] She announced final addition of the North American tour in June 2016,[43] and the band Handsome Ghost performed as a supporting act.[44] The second tour in London was added, visiting Heaven and O2 Forum on April 27 and May 7, respectively.[45][46] European tour started in Hammersmith Apollo on November 21, and finished in Olympia Theatre, Dublin on November 28.[47]
Cry Baby received generally positive reviews from music critics. ABC News described it as "a jarring, affecting record that will stick with you days after listening. It's not for passive listening. It is a rare pop record that is both catchy beyond belief and an artistic triumph."[10] Jason Scott at Popdust described the album as "13 tracks of pure hypnotic bliss [that] tests the absolute bounds of alt-pop, puncturing and bleeding out of [Martinez's] Lesley Gore and Purity Ring influence", highlighting "Sippy Cup", "Mrs. Potato Head", "Soap", "Cry Baby" and "Alphabet Boy".[11]AllMusic's Matt Collar compared Martinez to Björk and Beyoncé and said that "her songs also fit nicely next to the work of contemporaries like Lorde and Lana Del Rey".[14]
Spin named the album number 22 on their list of "The 25 Best Pop Albums of 2015";[50]Idolator also rated the album as "one of 2015's top pop albums".[51]
Commercial performance
Cry Baby debuted at number 6 on the Billboard 200 with 40,000 units sold in its first week; it also debuted at the top of the Alternative Albums Chart.[52] On February 24, 2017, it was certified Platinum, having sold 1,000,000 copies in the US.[53][54]Billboard magazine reported that Cry Baby had remained on the Billboard 200 chart for 104 consecutive weeks as of August 15, without dropping off.[33] In 2020, following the viral success of "Play Date", the album re-entered the Billboard 200.[51]
Cry Baby's Extra Clutter EP is the third extended play by American singer Melanie Martinez. It was released on November 25, 2016, through Atlantic Records. The EP only received a physical vinyl release, being available via Urban Outfitters and Martinez's website. It includes a Christmas single, "Gingerbread Man".[101]
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