Cry Baby (album by Melanie Martinez)

About
Cry Baby is the debut studio album by American singer and songwriter Melanie Martinez. It was released on August 14, 2015, by Atlantic Records through digital download, CD, vinyl and audio cassette. The album was supported by the release three singles. Two singles preceded the album's release: lead single "Pity Party", was released on June 2, 2015, while the second single, "Soap", was released on July 10, 2015. The third and final single from the album, "Sippy Cup" was released July 31, 2015. Cry Baby is a visual concept album. The album is labeled as an alternative pop, electropop, and indie pop release, and received generally positive reviews from critics. In February 2017, the album was certified Platinum, after earning 1 million album-equivalent units (sales, streaming and track sales).

On November 25, 2016, Martinez released an EP titled Cry Baby's Extra Clutter. The EP, released exclusively on vinyl, consisted of the three bonus tracks from Cry Baby, and "Gingerbread Man", which was released for Christmas of 2015. The album was promoted by the Cry Baby Tour (2015–2016).

Background and production
Martinez began recording for her debut album soon after she was eliminated from The Voice. She had an acoustic album 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. She discarded the tracks from the finished album and began working on new music. In May 2014, Melanie put out her Dollhouse EP, 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 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 livestream on June 1. It was officially released on the day of the livestream. During the livestream, Martinez announced that the release day of Cry Baby would 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 on Amazon, 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 her Instagram page. On July 28, Melanie released the snippet for "Sippy Cup" and announced that it would be released on July 31. On July 30, SPIN premiered the video and "Sippy Cup" was released the day after. The album was released on August 14. 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, 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.

Concept
The album is about a character, named Cry Baby, a fantasy version of Melanie Martinez when she was a child, and a representation of her vulnerable and messed up side. Melanie described Cry Baby as "a child who experiences adult things". 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, except the part where Cry Baby gets kidnapped and where Cry Baby knocks out her kidnapper. Each song on the track-list 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 story book available in the pre-order bundle features rhymes and illustrations based on the album, written by Martinez herself.

Although there are many childish metaphors and references, the album is about a woman growing up. She is growing from child to adult, which is proven by just the first track (Cry Baby) because small children aren't called Crybabies, but older age groups such as teens are called Crybabies if they are emotional. This is based off Melanie's experience.

Release
The album was released on August 14, 2015, by Atlantic Records, through digital download, CD, vinyl and audio cassette. The vinyl and CD have special packaging which includes a story book which follows the album by illustrator Chloe Tersigni. Cry Baby debuted at number 6 on the Billboard 200 with 41,000 units sold in its first week; it also debuted at the top of the Alternative Albums Chart. It was announced in August 2, 2016 that the album has managed to sell 263,050 copies ever since it was released. On February 24, 2017, the album was certified Platinum, having sold 1,000,000 copies in the US.

Singles
"Pity Party" was released as the first single. The music video was released on Vessel by Martinez on May 29, 2015 for early access users. It was then released 3 days later on June 1, 2015 on YouTube. It has been certified Platinum by RIAA.

"Soap" was released as the second single. It was released on July 10, 2015 along with a music video. It has been certified Gold by RIAA. As of the end of 2017, “Soap” became an online trending song on the application Tik Tok (Formally known as Musical.ly) and a challenge known as the ‘Soap Challenge’ gained speed which saw users play Melanie’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 sequel to the music video of her 2014 single, "Dollhouse".

Other Songs
Martinez said in an interview that she will 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", however "Training Wheels" has not been 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.

Critical reception
Cry Baby received acclaim from music critics. Allan Raible at ABC News gave 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 rare pop record that is both catchy beyond 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 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". AllMusic's Matt Collar compared Martinez to Bjork and Beyonce and said that "her songs also fit nicely next to the work of contemporaries like Lorde and Lana Del Rey." Emma Guido at Under 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 haunted carnival-esque ambience of Cry Baby...takes on a new form of indie-pop music that the world has been waiting to hear."

Jason Lipshutz at Billboard was more critical of the album, giving it only 2 stars out of 5, stating that "Martinez is clearly cribbing from the dimly lit pop stylings of Lorde and Lana Del Rey, but while her wispy delivery strikes the same femme fatale poses, she lacks the subtlety of her influences". He also said the album "shows that Martinez is admirably ambitious, but her insistence on sticking to the album's central idea leaves her contorting into uncomfortable positions".

SPIN named the album number 22 on their list of "The 25 Best Pop Albums of 2015".

Personnel

 * Melanie Martinez - vocals

Production

 * A&R - Jeff Levin
 * Pete Ganbarg - A&R
 * Anne Declemente - A&R
 * Mitch McCarthy - mixing (tracks 1, 3, 5 - 7, 9 - 16 and radio mix of track 8) at Owl Foot Ranch
 * Manny Marroquin - mixing (track 8)
 * Chris Gehringer - mastering