Music Review: Melanie Martinez - Cry Baby 9.9/10

I haven't done an album review on this blog in so so long! But, I really enjoy doing them so I will try my very best to do them more often. Melanie's debut album is perfect to start this series off with! 

It is important to note that this is a concept album which in this case means that the album tells a story from start to finish, Cry Baby is a character who has had a difficult upbringing and the track in order tells her tale. It is a very twisted, violent and emotional tale. I really love this about this album, you feel a huge connection to Cry Baby and so the album becomes both music but also a story. It is a whole experience. I suggest that the album is listened to in order and that you listen to the deluxe edition because it is the best way to experience Cry Baby's tale. 

It kills me that Melanie's music is not more well known because this album is just incredible! I also recently posted a blog post talking about the singles and promotion singles for this album so have a look back on that post for more information on the build up to this gem.

1. Cry Baby

The opening track introduces us to Cry Baby herself. Melanie begins to build the bridge between herself and Cry Baby giving the impression that they are the same person. Cry Baby is alone in the world, she has lost everything and everyone, she cries through the pain. This song is really great, it is actually a very empowering song..

They call you cry baby
Cry baby
But you don't fucking care
Cry baby, cry baby
So you laugh through your tears

...The chorus (above) is a very simple shout to the world that she doesn't care anymore, she doesn't give a fuck that people call her a Cry Baby, instead she embraces it and she wears it like an armour so people can't get close to her. 

I look at you and
I see myself
I know you better
Than anyone else

(Above) These lyrics are our first sign that Melanie and Cry Baby are the same person. This is a deep running theme through out the album and listening for these clues is an amazing part of this album and one reason why I love it so much.

This some is very simple is composition and repetitive in its lyrics but this is what makes it such a great opening track. It really imbeds Cry Baby into your mind.

A hauntingly beautiful opener. 

2.Dollhouse

This is the song that started my love for Melanie. I heard it by chance a while back and just fell in love and I have been anticipating the release of this album since. It is haunting and intense, the instruments sound like a child's fantasy coming to life. This song is a little story in itself, it sings of Cry Baby's family life. Her cheating father, oblivious vindictive mother, drug addicted brother and this mysterious event that occurs in the family kitchen. It sings of this perfect family being portrayed to the world when the truth is very different. I think it is a very relatable song and it is incredible catchy.

Places, places, get in your places

Throw on your dress and put on your doll faces.

Everyone thinks that we're perfect

Please don't let them look through the curtains

3. Sippy Cup

This so is one of my favourites, it is a follow on from Dollhouse in that it finally tells you what happened in the infamous kitchen. It is chock full of metaphors and dark intense lyrics, the song is very simple in its structure, it combines gentle claps and the sounds of a dripping tap. The main focus is on the lyrics, it is a song you need to listen to and take in. You get to know the family a little better and what happened in that house becomes known and it builds the foundation to Cry Baby's mental health. 

He's still dead when you're done with the bottle

Of course it's a corpse that you keep in the cradle

Kids are still depressed when you dress them up

Syrup is still syrup in a sippy cup

4. Carousel

Carousel starts to show Cry Baby trying to live her life and overcome what has happened to her. She meets a boy and falls in love but of course, it isn't as it seems. She cant quite reach him, they cant quite make it work. These feelings are expressed with the metaphor of being glued on tight to this carousel, the song uses carnival sounds and carnival themes to explain her feelings towards the situation with this boy. The song is fantastic, it has become my new theme song I will think of when I think of carnivals. 

5. Alphabet Boy

This song is an addictive one but it is also the most distant on the album. It talks of Cry Baby's struggle with presumably the same boy as in Carousel, his being a lot smarter than her and not letting her forget it. It is one of the only songs that isn't sinister and dark which is a nice way to break up the album a little. What makes this song great however, is the use of letters. The lyrics are a play on the alphabet and it is really fun to listen for. 

6. Soap

Another one of my favourites, it is riddled with metaphors and sounds of popping bubbles. It is beautifully structured and the perfect bath time anthem. Cry Baby sings of having told this boy she loves him and wishing she hadn't because she didn't get the response she wanted. I think is something we can all relate with and the soap metaphors are perfect to describe the feeling. 

Should've never said the word "love"
Threw a toaster in the bathtub
I'm sick of all the games I have to play

7. Training Wheels

Continuing the love theme, we have the only slow song on the album. She is now begging this boy to love her back, telling him she isn't asking for much, just to know what he cares as much as she does. It is a really vulnerable song and it makes you really feel for Cry Baby. You start to see the gentle loving side of her. This isn't one of the best songs on the album but I feel it was a necessary one in order to show us another side of our lead character.

Love everything you do
When you call me fucking dumb for the stupid shit I do
I wanna ride my bike with you

8. Pity Party

Pity Party is the albums lead single and its a good one. I feel like its a little out of place with the albums story because one minute she is talking about a boy she loves then all of a sudden she is throwing a birthday party with no mention of him. Did they break up? I guess they did. The song uses an interpolation of Lesley Gore's classic “It's My Party“ and at first this felt boring and over used to me but on further listens I feel in love with it. It is a playful but also childishly upsetting, it is a great leading single as it does give a good inside look to Cry Baby's life.

9. Tag, You're It

Cry Baby's life now goes from bad to worse when she is attacked and supposedly raped by a stranger. Poor Cry Baby has been fighting for happiness through out the duration of this album and now she is receiving a further blow. This song is very dark and again shows our lead characters vulnerability. This is another favourite for me, its starts a new chapter in her tale. 

Rolling down your tinted window
Driving next to me real slow, he said
"Let me take you for a joyride
I've got some candy for you inside"

10. Milk and Cookies

Milk and Cookies is a follow on from Tag, You're It. It seems that her attacker has kidnaped her and is making her be with him, he is keeping her captive in his home. But Cry Baby's had enough, she lets her inner demon out and she poisons him with cookies she has made. She murders him in order to escape, much like her mother killed her father. She is becoming the one thing she never wanted to be. Her mother. I love this song, it is both depressing and empowering.

Ooh, honey do you want me now?
Can't take it anymore, need to put you to bed
Sing you a lullaby where you die at the end

11. Pacify Her

Cry Baby is taking love a little more seriously now, she isn't a victim anymore. She is making someone else the victim and viciously taking someone another girls man. Cry Baby is telling this man to get rid of her, she doesn't say it but it feels like she is saying that if he doesn't then she will. And I very much doubt this would be in a nice way. Cry Baby is becoming her worst nightmare, she is showing her mental health issues so clearly now. This is an amazingly sinister track. 

12. Mrs Potato Head

In all honestly, I'm not sure how this song follows the story but I also don't care because it is the best song on the whole album. It is sinister, depressing and provides a huge dose of sickening reality. And of course, full of metaphors again. If you only listen to one song from this album, let this be it.

Oh Mrs. Potato Head tell me, is it true that pain is beauty?
Does a new face come with a warranty?
Will a pretty face make it better?
Oh Mr. Potato Head tell me
How did you afford her surgery?
Do you swear you'll stay forever
Even if her face don't stay together
Even if her face don't stay together

13. Mad Hatter

Mad Hatter rounds off the album main track listing perfectly but finally Cry Baby finally confessing that she is crazy. He and Melanie are one person and every friends she has is both imaginary and as crazy as she is. She has finally accepted that she is not sane and she isn't like everybody else, she is herself and she has been shaped by everything that has happened to her. And she accepts it. This song feels and sounds manic and crazy, it takes its influence from Alice in Wonderland and the metaphor works perfectly. 

Where is my prescription?
Doctor, doctor please listen
My brain is scattered
You can be Alice,
I'll be the mad hatter.

Bonus Tracks

14. Play Date

Every album has to have a let down right? This is it. It's just not good. This is the only reason I didn't rate this album a 10/10

15. Teddy Bear

These bonus tracks don't seem to follow Cry Baby's story but instead they seem to act as stand alone tales. This song is probably one the most amazing albums on the album and easily one of my favourites. Cry Baby sings of a man she loves and shared her life with turning against her and trying to kill her. Poor Cry Baby just had no luck with men! 

Teddy bear, you are my teddy bear
You were comforting and quiet
How did love become so violent?
Oh, teddy bear, you were my teddy bear
Everything was so sweet until you tried to kill me

16. Cake

Don't give up on this one! It takes a few listens to see it but this is a great song. At first I didn't like it but it is a deep complex song and it requires a good few listens to take in all the sounds and lyrics to really appreciate it. The classical piano sounds at the beginning are beautiful and hypnotic. This is a great song to finish of the bonus tracks.

Your skin is warm like an oven
Your kiss is sugary sweet
Your fingers feel like cotton
When you put your arms around me
I feel like I'm just missing
Something whenever you leave
We've got all the ingredients
Except you loving me
And respectfully...

Wow! That was a long post and I'm sorry that it became less of a review and more of an explanation to each song but I feel with this album the story being told is the most important aspect. Don't think that the songs aren't equality as pleasing to the ear though, this is a great album and so close to being perfection. This album is consistent all the way through, it is a truly incredible listen.

Purchase Here