Paintings of Me (album)

## Singles

1. "Pretty Little Mind"
October 9, 2020
2. "Not Today"
August 13, 2021
3. "Immaculate"
October 27, 2021
4. "Broken Morning"
March 25, 2022

## Trailer

***Paintings of Me*** (originally titled ***Beautiful Mess***) is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Gabi DeMartino. It was released on May 6, 2022. The album was recorded between February 2019 and April 2022.

## Background

### Early recording as *Beautiful Mess*

After being pushed back multiple times due to the COVID-19 pandemic and for personal development, *Paintings Of Me* took four years to fully create. Throughout these years, the album underwent significant changes, conceptually and sonically. DeMartino began working on the project after the release of *Individual*, where it originally was going to be released as an EP by Niki & Gabi. Their 2019 summer single "Hair Tie" was released as the EP's lead single and both Niki and Gabi promoted and confirmed that the album would be coming in fall 2019. The EP had four tracks ready to be recorded, however, Niki believed that the songs weren't her style and told Gabi that she should release the project on her own.

In October 2019, Gabi began working on the album individually, and by December 10th the album was complete, but after signing with Roc Nation for music management and representation in January 2020, she began adding more tracks to the album. The album's original title *Beautiful Mess* was revealed on May 3, 2020, during an interview with In the House with Barkha. The rest of 2020 Gabi continued to work on and promote the project and by December 2021 Gabi had 15 songs ready for release but just over a month later she revealed that she was unsatisfied with the final product and she had yet again decided to re-work on the album. DeMartino re-wrote some of the tracks and removed and added many. The originally intended lead single, a bubblegum pop track called "Champagne Dreams" was removed from the album and "Pretty Little Mind" would then be promoted as the albums lead single.

### Renaming and reworking on the album

Even though the album's genre was intended to mainly have a bubblegum pop sound with "Material Girl" lyrics throughout, the album was later described as an "orchestral-pop album that tackles the good, the bad, the ugly and, most importantly, growth that comes with being “cancelled.”However, the album still has Bubblegum-pop influences throughout. Gabi revealed that she was inspired by Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez, Musicals & Disney princesses throughout the creative process. Gabi also revealed that the album would be very synthy with elements of Electropop, Dance-pop and EDM. Initially the album was finished in July and was planned to be released in fall 2021, however, due to the unexpected passing of DeMartino's beloved dog, Lily Rose, the album would then be pushed back for a final time so she could add one more song to complete her story however, it was later revealed that Gabi added another song to the album since November, a cover from the musical PufNStuf.

Although the album was originally called *Beautiful Mess*, DeMartino decided that the title must change, and she had revealed in an interview that the album would officially be titled *Paintings Of Me*. In an interview with Sweety High, Gabi revealed that she was unsure if she should release the album on May 4th or May 6th but on April 6, 2022, during an interview with Prelude Press, the album's final release date was revealed and it would officially be released on May 6, 2022.

Throughout the album Gabi reflects on mental health, cheating, the pressures of society, the death of her dog, Lily Rose and opens up about her relationship with Ex-fiancé, Collin Vogt.

On June 30, 2023, In a press release for DeMartino’s single, Heaven Gabi revealed that the Paintings of Me album was “accidental” and shouldn’t have really happened. Gabi claimed that she was constantly writing so many songs which eventually just formed an album, and that she wants to take her time with the following projects and experiment with her sound.

#### **Cover artwork**

On May 4, 2020, Gabi revealed the original cover art for *Beautiful Mess* on a billboard in Los Angeles which wasn't officially available until September 1, 2020 on her website. On August 26, 2021, in an interview with Sweety High, Gabi confirmed that she had posted the picture which is featured on the new album cover on her Instagram story previously, but immediately took it down since it wasn't the final cover and hadn't been edited yet. On April 25, 2022, Gabi started to reveal the official cover art through Instagram GIFS and revealed the full album cover along with the pre-save link on April 29, 2022.

#### **Promotion**

On August 8, 2020, Gabi was interviewed and perfomed at Musikfest 2020. She performed 2 exclusive songs which were intended to be apart of her debut album. The early version of "Not Today" and "Champagne Dreams".

On August 13, 2021, DeMartino got the opportunity to open for Russian-German DJ, Zedd at Musikfest 2021, In which she performed five songs from the album. She opened up with "Welcome To My Life" and was was then followed by "Diamonds", "Not Today", "Beautiful Mess" and "Pretty Little Mind".

To promote her single "Not Today" Gabi appeared on Sweety High on September 21, 2021, in which she also talked about her upcoming album and performed the song.

On April 28, 2022, Gabi released the official album trailer to promote the album. The trailer featured the songs "Welcome To My Life", "Wish", "Diamonds" and "Pretty Little Outro".

On May 3, 2022, Gabi revealed on her Instagram stories that she would be holding a release party for the album at the Madame X bar in New York City on May 5.

On May 7, 2022, Gabi announced that she would be performing on July 15 at the O2 Academy Islington in London, UK.

On September 10, 2022, Gabi revealed that the next day she would be performing at 3 dollar bill, a Queen-owned Nightclub in Brooklyn, New York. However, the show was later cancelled due to "bad weather".

On February 14, 2023, Gabi performed her song “Diamonds” at Public Hotels in New York City, at a party hosted by Ladygunn Magazine.

## Singles

* The lead single, "Pretty Little Mind", was released on October 9, 2020.
* The second single, "Not Today" was released on August 13, 2021.
* The third single, "Immaculate" was released on October, 27, 2021.
* The fourth & final single, "Broken Morning" was released on March 25, 2022.

Pretty Little MindNot TodayImmaculateBroken Morning
## Trivia

* The album was originally intended to be an EP for Niki & Gabi.
* The album was rumoured to be renamed as "Welcome To My Life" due to a response Gabi had to a fan on twitter, but was never officially confirmed.
* Gabi's favourite single from the album is "Pretty Little Mind".
* “2:22 in Paris” was originally called “Love at First Sight”.

## Track listing

### Scrapped tracks

* "Champagne Dreams"
* "Breakfast at Chanel"
* "Tea"
* "You Light Me Up"
* "Iced Coffee"
* "2nd Unknown song"

## References

1. ↑ Gabi DeMartino Shares Debut Album, “Paintings of Me”
2. ↑ Niki & Gabi Confirm That a Full Album is Coming in 2019 (Exclusive)
3. ↑ Twitter - Gabi confirming album and single
4. ↑ Gabi DeMartino Spills the Tea | Get To Know Gabi
5. ↑ YouTube - i have something to tell you + please don't hate me for it!
6. ↑ YouTube - Gabi DeMartino Exclusive Interview - In The House with Barkha
7. ↑ Gabi DeMartino Returns With a New Incredible Single “Immaculate”
8. ↑ Gabi DeMartino Shares “Broken Morning” Video
9. ↑ Gabi DeMartino Instagram Live: Music Talk! Interview with @SweetyHigh August 26, 2021

 Released