Cry Baby (Melanie Martinez album)

Cry Babyis the debut studio album by American singer and songwriterMelanie Martinez, released on August 14, 2015, throughAtlantic Records. Between September and December 2012, Martinez rose to prominence upon participating in thethird seasonof the American edition ofThe Voice. After the show's completion, the singer began working independently on original material, which shesays she spent the majority of 2013 writing.
The album was supported by the release of threesingles.
"Pity Party", was released on June 2, 2015,and, "Soap", was released on July 10, 2015. The third and final single, "Sippy Cup" was released July 31, 2015.Cry Babyis avisualconcept albumabout a character named Cry Baby, who is a fantasy version of Martinez.
Musically,Cry Babyis primarily analternative pop,electropop,andindie poprecord, and received generally positive reviews from critics. In the United States, the album was certifieddouble-platinumby theRecording Industry Association of America, after earning 2 million album-equivalent units (sales, streaming, and track sales). In 2020, the song "Play Date", went viral on video-sharing platformTikTok, causing the album to re-enter charts globally.
Martinez had anextended playcompletely done around 2013, which she began recording soon after she was eliminated fromThe Voiceand was ready to put it out. However, after creating her song "Dollhouse" in September 2013, she decided not to release the aforementioned extended play. She began conceptualizing her debut album, which differed from the sound of the 2013 EP. In May 2014, Melanie put out herDollhouseEP, 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 Loveannounced that all of the vocals for Melanie's album were finished, and Melanie officially announced that her album would be titledCry Baby. Melanie began teasing some titles for tracks. The first single was "Pity Party" and was confirmed on May 27, 2015. The music video was accidentally leaked by Melanie herself on May 29, but she later tweeted that she was happy and excited for the fans who had seen it and promised there was "more to come" during her live stream on June 1. It was officially released on the day of the live stream. During the live stream, Martinez announced that the release day ofCry Babywould be in August. The second single, "Soap", was confirmed in late June, and it was announced soon before it was to be released on July 10. It leaked a day earlier. The one-shot music video came out the same day.
On July 16, the album art and release date were leaked onAmazon, although the release date was false. On July 17, the album art was officially revealed, and merchandise bundles were available to pre-order on Martinez's website, with the digital pre-order on July 24. Before the 24th, the track list 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 27, Melanie released a snippet of each song (apart from the ones on the deluxe edition) on herInstagrampage. On July 28, Melanie released the snippet for "Sippy Cup" and announced that it would be released on July 31. On July 30,Spinpremiered the video, and "Sippy Cup" was released the day after. The album was released on August 14. TheCDwas packaged as a storybook, with jewel case CDs available later. Both a picture disk and a standard blackvinylwere released in the future.Cassetteswere then released, advertised as being in yellow, blue, 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 album is about a character, named Cry Baby, a fantasy version of Martinez when she was a very young child (specifically before she started education), and a representation of her vulnerable and messed-up side. Martinez described Cry Baby as "a child who experiences adult things". She states that many of the things that have happened to Cry Baby are embellished versions of things that have happened in her own life, except the part where Cry Baby gets kidnapped and kills her kidnapper. Each song on the tracklist has a childhood related title and contains childhood related metaphors, while the deeper messages being crossed to the listener carry more adult themes and problems. For example, the song "Cry Baby" refers to someone who is teased for openly displaying their emotions (as opposed to an actual baby), and the song "Training Wheels" is actually about taking a relationship to the next level. The storybook available in the pre-order bundle features rhymes and illustrations based on the album, written by Martinez herself.
The album was released on August 14, 2015, byAtlantic Records, throughdigital download, CD, vinyl, and audio cassette.The vinyl and CD have special packaging, which includes a storybook that follows the album by illustrator Chloe Tersigni.Cry Babydebuted at number 6 on theBillboard200with 41,000 units sold in its first week; it also debuted at the top of the Alternative Albums Chart. It was announced on August 2, 2016, that the album had sold 263,050 copies.On February 24, 2017, the album was certified Platinum, having sold 1,000,000 copies in the US.
"Pity Party" was released as the first single. The music video was released onVesselby Martinez on May 29, 2015, for early access users. It was then released three days later, on June 1, 2015, onYouTube. It was certified Platinum byRIAA.
"Soap" was released as the second single. It was released on July 10, 2015, along with a music video. It was certified Gold by RIAA. As of the end of 2017, "Soap" became an online trending song on the applicationTikTok(formerly known asMusical.ly), and a challenge known as the "Soap Challenge" gained speed, which saw users play Martinez's song while using liquid dish soap on makeup wipes to blow a stream of foam with their mouth.
"Sippy Cup" was released as the third single on July 31, 2015, with a music video. It was the darker side to the music video of her 2014 single, "Dollhouse".
Martinez said in an interview that she would be releasing music videos for all tracks of the album.The song "Training Wheels" had a music video released on November 18, 2015, as a double-feature with a new video for "Soap", but "Training Wheels" was not announced as a single by Martinez."Alphabet Boy" received a music video on June 2, 2016.A double feature music video for "Tag, You're It" and "Milk and Cookies" was released on August 23, 2016.The song "Pacify Her" had a music video released on November 15, 2016.The song "Mrs. Potato Head" had a music video released on December 1, 2016.The song "Mad Hatter" had its music video released on September 23, 2017, serving as the conclusion to the Cry Baby visual story.
In April 2020, Martinez's song "Play Date", one of the deluxe edition's bonus tracks, reached the "Viral 50" songs onSpotifyand subsequently had risen on the charts. This resulted from a popular trend on multiple platforms where users make an edit of a celebrity with the song playing in the background.Martinez posted on Instagram, addressing the song's success as the "best birthday present ever".On May 1, 2020, the song was certified Gold by RIAA and as of December 8, 2020 the song has been certified Platinum.In an interview withIdolatoron May 8, 2020, Martinez revealed plans to record a music video for the song from home.
Cry Babyreceived generally positive reviews frommusic critics. Allan Raible atABC Newsgave the album 4.5 stars out of 5, describing it as "a jarring, affecting record that will stick with you days after listening. It's not for passive listening. It is a rarepoprecord that is bothcatchybeyond belief and an artistic triumph."Jason Scott at Popdust.com described the album as "13 tracks of pure hypnotic bliss [that] tests the absolute bounds ofalt-pop, puncturing and bleeding out of [Martinez's]Lesley GoreandPurity Ringinfluence," highlighting "Sippy Cup", "Mrs. Potato Head", "Soap", "Cry Baby" and "Alphabet Boy".AllMusic's Matt Collar compared Martinez toBjörkandBeyoncé, and said that "her songs also fit nicely next to the work of contemporaries likeLordeandLana Del Rey." Emma Guido atUnder the Gun Reviewgave the album a 9.5 out of 10, calling the album "a journey with Martinez’s creepy alter ego as she battles her demons and obsessions", calling her songwriting methods "expressional, passionate and marvelously creative" and writing that "the hauntedcarnival-esque ambience ofCry Baby...takes on a new form ofindie-popmusic that the world has been waiting to hear."
Spinnamed the album number 22 on their list of "The 25 Best Pop Albums of 2015".
Notes
Production
Cry Baby's Extra Clutter EPis the thirdextended playby American recording artistMelanie Martinez, released on November 25, 2016. The EP is a physical vinyl release and her first EP without a digital release of the three bonus tracks fromCry Babyas well as the limited-release 2015Christmassingle, "Gingerbread Man".The vinyl was only available for purchase viaUrban Outfittersand Martinez's website.The EP's cover art was drawn by Chloe Tersigni.
The Cry Baby Tour was the second concert tour by American singer Melanie Martinez, in support of her first studio albumCry Baby. The tour consisted of nine legs and 124 shows, beginning on August 26, 2015 inCharlotte, North Carolina,and concluded on April 2, 2017 inSantiago, Chile.
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