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"Cry Baby" is the debut studio album by Melanie Martinez. It was released on Friday, August 14th 2015 by Atlantic Records through digital download, CD, cassette and vinyl. The album Cry Baby debuted in the top 10 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, coming in at #6 with 40,000 total copies sold in its first week. The album also topped the alternative albums chart by coming in at #1. It was also certified Platinum on February 24th, 2017, by RIAA.[1]
Her tour, called the Cry Baby Tour, is focused on the album, and began soon after Cry Baby was released. Before this, there were three intimate concerts debuting stripped down versions of some of the songs.
Background
Melanie Martinez began recording for her debut album soon after she was eliminated from The Voice. She had an acoustic EP completely done around 2013 and was ready to put it out, although she decided against it. Later, she finished her song Dollhouse and changed her whole sound after discovering how much she liked this new sound instead. She discarded the tracks from that finished album and began working on some new music.
In May of 2014, Melanie put out her debut EP, Dollhouse, and announced that summer that she hoped to have her album out around October. When October came, Melanie released the video for Carousel and postponed her release date for her album, and stated that she hoped to have it out in spring.
That spring, Kinetics & One Love announced that all of the vocals for Melanie's album were finished, and Melanie officially announced that her album would be titled "Cry Baby". Melanie began teasing some titles for tracks.
The first single was Pity Party and was confirmed on May 27th, 2015. The music video was accidentally leaked by Melanie herself on May 29th, but she later tweeted that she was happy and excited for the fans who had already seen it and promised there was "more to come" during her live stream on June 1st. It was officially released on the day of the live stream.
During the live stream, Melanie announced that the release date of Cry Baby would be in August. She also revealed that it would be available to pre-order soon.
The second single, Soap, was confirmed in late June and it was announced soon before it was to be released on July 10th. It leaked a day earlier. The one-shot music video came out the same day.
On July 16th, the album art and release date were leaked on Amazon, although the release date was false. On July 17th, the album art was officially revealed and merch bundles were available to pre-order on Melanie's website, with the digital pre-order on July 24th. Before the 24th, the tracklist of the album was leaked, although the websites that leaked it replaced Tag, You're It with Jump Rope and Play Date with Half Hearted. The track list was officially revealed on the 24th with the pre-order.
Starting on July 27th, Melanie released a snippet of each song (apart from the ones on the deluxe edition) on her Instagram page. On July 28th, Melanie released the snippet for Sippy Cup and announced that it would be released on July 31st. On July 30th, SPIN Magazine premiered the video and Sippy Cup was released the day after.
The album was released on August 14th. The CD was packaged as a storybook, with jewel case CDs available later. Both a picture disk and a standard black vinyl were released in the future. Cassettes were then released, advertised as being in yellow, white, and pink. There is also a less common green cassette. All physical copies of the album are the standard explicit, with the deluxe and clean being digital exclusives.
The Cry Baby Coloring Book was released at Barnes & Noble on November 29th, 2016.
Cry Baby's Extra Clutter EP, an EP on vinyl with the deluxe tracks and Gingerbread Man, was released as an Urban Outfitters exclusive on November 25th, 2016.
Story
This album tells the story of Cry Baby, a fantasy version of Melanie Martinez when she was a young child, and a representation of her vulnerable and messed up side. Melanie claims that many of the things that have happened to Cry Baby are similar to the things that have happened in her own life,[2] except where she gets kidnapped and where she kills her kidnapper. Each song on the tracklist is titled something childhood related, while the actual message being crossed to the listener carries more adult-like themes and problems.
The storybook available in the pre-order bundle features rhymes and illustrations based on the album, written by Melanie herself, and the illustrations were drawn by Chloe Tersigni.
Primary Characters
- Cry Baby (featured in all videos)
- Mom (featured in Sippy Cup, Cry Baby, and Dollhouse)
- Alphabet Boy (featured in Alphabet Boy and Carousel)
- Johnny (featured in Soap, Training Wheels, and mentioned in Pity Party)
- Big Bad Wolf (featured in Tag, You're It and Milk and Cookies)
Secondary Characters
- Bunny Doctor (featured in Cry Baby, Mrs. Potato Head and Mad Hatter)
- Dad (featured in Sippy Cup and Dollhouse)
- Brother (featured in Cry Baby and Dollhouse)
- Basic Bitch (featured in Pacify Her)
- Blue Boy (featured in Pacify Her)
- Mrs. Potato Head (featured in Mrs. Potato Head)
- Mr. Potato Head (featured in Mrs. Potato Head)
- Rushton Dolls (featured in Mad Hatter)
Tertiary Characters
- Nurse (featured in Cry Baby and Mad Hatter)
- Cashier (featured in Tag, You're It and Mad Hatter)
- Mr. Potato Head's Lover (featured in Mrs. Potato Head)
- Mistress/Slut (mentioned in Dollhouse and featured in Sippy Cup)
- Plastic People (featured in Mad Hatter)
Unknown Characters
- Beth Anne (mentioned in Pity Party)
Locations
- Cry Baby's house (featured in Cry Baby, Pity Party, Tag, You're It, Mrs. Potato Head, and Mad Hatter)
- Big Bad Wolf's house (featured in Milk and Cookies)
- Grocery store (featured in Tag, You're It)
- Hospital (featured in Cry Baby, Mrs. Potato Head, and Mad Hatter)
- Carnival (featured in Carousel)
Tracklist
There are 13 tracks on the CD with 3 additional for the deluxe version. 40 songs were originally recorded for Cry Baby, but more than half of them did not make it into the album. You can view some of the names on this page. It was said that the songs on the album tell a story in chronological order. This was confirmed on Melanie's Instagram.
Two songs from the Dollhouse EP, Dollhouse and Carousel, were confirmed to be on the album by Jose Martinez, Melanie's father. However, Dead To Me and Bittersweet Tragedy would not appear on the album.
Soap was released on July 10th, and Sippy Cup was released on July 31st.
There is both an explicit version of the album and a clean version.
- "*" = a song that has both explicit and clean versions.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Cry Baby"* | Melanie Martinez, Jeremy Dussolliet, Tim Sommers | Kinetics & One Love | 3:59 | |
| 2. | "Dollhouse" | Melanie Martinez, Jeremy Dussolliet, Tim Sommers, Adriel Terrazas | Kinetics & One Love | 3:51 | |
| 3. | "Sippy Cup"* | Melanie Martinez, Jeremy Dussolliet, Tim Sommers | Kinetics & One Love | 3:15 | |
| 4. | "Carousel" | Melanie Martinez, Jeremy Dussolliet, Tim Sommers | Kinetics & One Love | 3:50 | |
| 5. | "Alphabet Boy"* | Melanie Martinez, Jeremy Dussolliet, Tim Sommers | Kinectics & One Love | 4:13 | |
| 6. | "Soap" | Melanie Martinez, Emily Warren, Kyle Shearer | Kyle Shearer, Daniel Weber | 3:29 | |
| 7. | "Training Wheels"* | Melanie Martinez, Scott Hoffman | Babydaddy | 3:25 | |
| 8. | "Pity Party" | Melanie Martinez, Christopher J. Baran, Kara DioGuardi | Christopher J. Baran, Kara DioGuardi | 3:24 | |
| 9. | "Tag, You're It" | Melanie Martinez, Scott Harris, Rick Markowitz | SmarterChild, Michael Miller | 3:09 | |
| 10. | "Milk and Cookies"* | Melanie Martinez, Jeremy Dussolliet, Rick Markowitz | SmarterChild, Michael Keenan | 3:26 | |
| 11. | "Pacify Her" | Melanie Martinez, Chloe Angelides, Michael Keenan | Michael Keenan | 3:40 | |
| 12. | "Mrs. Potato Head" | Melanie Martinez, Jeremy Dussolliet, Tim Sommers | Kinectics & One Love | 3:37 | |
| 13. | "Mad Hatter" | Melanie Martinez, Jeremy Dussolliet, Bryan Fryzel, Aaron Kleinstub | Frequency, Aalias | 3:21 |
| Deluxe Version | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length | ||||||
| 14. | "Play Date"* | Melanie Martinez, Jennifer Decilveo | Michael Keenan, Jennifer Decilveo | 2:59 | ||||||
| 15. | "Teddy Bear"* | Melanie Martinez, Phoebe Ryan, Felix Snow | Felix Snow | 4:05 | ||||||
| 16. | "Cake" | Melanie Martinez, Christopher J. Baran, Kara DioGuardi | Christopher J. Baran | 3:19 | ||||||
Cut Songs
Bold typing indicates that the full song has leaked. Italic typing indicates that the song is partially leaked.
- Band Aid
- Bombs on Monday Morning
- Dressed In Mistakes
- Half Hearted
- Haunted
- Jump Rope
- Obsessions
- Schizo
- Stay For Love
- Strawberry Fields Forever (The Beatles cover)
- Until Sunrise
- Where Do Babies Come From?
Music Videos
| No. | Title | Release Date of Music Video | Length of Music Video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Cry Baby | March 14, 2016 | 6:06 |
| 2. | Dollhouse | February 9, 2014 | 4:25 |
| 3. | Sippy Cup | July 31, 2015 | 3:21 |
| 4. | Carousel | October 15, 2014 | 3:50 |
| 5. | Alphabet Boy | June 2, 2016 | 4:20 |
| 6. | Soap | November 18, 2015 | 4:24 |
| 7. | Training Wheels | November 18, 2015 | 3:49 |
| 8. | Pity Party | June 1, 2015 | 3:39 |
| 9. | Tag, You're It | August 23, 2016 | 3:14 |
| 10. | Milk and Cookies | August 23, 2016 | 3:30 |
| 11. | Pacify Her | November 15, 2016 | 3:45 |
| 12. | Mrs. Potato Head | December 1, 2016 | 5:32 |
| 13. | Mad Hatter | September 23, 2017 | 4:38 |
Digital Booklet
Trivia
- This is Melanie Martinez's first visual album.
- Some of the original album title ideas that didn't make the cut were Animal Crackers, Toy Chest, and Coloring Book.[3]
- Alphabet Boy is the longest song in this album, both on the deluxe and standard version, with the song length at 4 minutes and 13 seconds. Tag, You're It is the shortest song on the standard version of the album, lasting for 3 minutes and 9 seconds. Play Date is overall the shortest song in the deluxe version of the album, with 2 minutes and 59 seconds being its length.
- 10 of the 13 songs on the standard album have been certified Gold by RIAA.
- The exceptions are Training Wheels, Tag, You're It, and Milk and Cookies.
- Dollhouse and Pity Party have been certified Platinum.
- This makes the album tied for third for the most certified songs on an album with 1989 by Taylor Swift and The Fame Monster by Lady Gaga. It is only beaten by Speak Now and Fearless by Taylor Swift, both of which have 11 certified songs.
- In some of the physical story books, there is a spelling mistake with the word "vulnerable" on the page for Tag, You're It. It is misspelled as "vunerable".
- The album was originally going to have a more acoustic pop sound, with more pop-oriented songs. That album was scrapped and afterwards, there was going to be a full album called Dollhouse, based on the EP of the same name, but that was also scrapped.
- Later in 2016, Hot Topic released a special pink/white exclusive vinyl.
- There are 3 different vinyls of this album.
- The album has surpassed 1.1 billion streams on Spotify.
Gallery
-18.png "Digital Booklet - Cry Baby (Deluxe)-18.png (2.48 MB)")
