Melanie Martinez was one of my favorites on The Voice. Her unique voice and her split colored hair really pulled me in. I was with her for her first Dollhouse EP and I’m with her for her new album, “Cry Baby.” This was definitely one of the most unique albums I’ve listened to. Her theme was very creepy toys and sinister messed up children based on what I’ve gathered and…well…it’s what is sounds like.

She incorporates nursery rhymes, toy-like noises and childlike playground songs in a creepy way and also has demonic voices or sound effects throughout the songs…so…yeah. Here’s what I thought of this Alternative Pop album.

1.) Cry Baby – 7/10

Yes! I quite like this track. The curse words have no place, really, they don’t add anything to the song and seem a bit unnecessary. It’s very catchy but it gets a little bit too repetitive.

Favorite Lyric: “You seem to replace your brain with your heart /you take things so hard and then you fall apart”

2.) Dollhouse – 8/10

This was on her old EP and I loved it! The music video is incredibly cool and creepy. I love the eerie vibe and the lyrics that critique the illusion of perfection and how everyone puts on a show sometimes.

Favorite Lyric: “Everyone thinks that we’re perfect / Please don’t let them look through the curtains”

3.) Sippy Cup – 9/10

This was a single from the album. This literally sings about dead babies. Dead babies. It’s a very chill tune where you wanna bob your head but the lyrics have that creepy messed up nursery rhyme sort of vibe that most of the album has, hm. It is incredibly catchy although highly disturbing.

Favorite Lyric: “Pill diet, pill diet, if they give you a new pill then you will buy it/ If they say to kill yourself, then you will try it”

4.) Carousel – 7/10

This was also on the old Dollhouse EP and I really liked it. It’s such a cool song that incorporates a very carnival vibe, this is probably one of my favorite tracks on the album.

Favorite Lyric: And it’s all fun and games ’til somebody falls in love / But you’ve already bought a ticket and there’s no turning back now”

5.) Alphabet Boy -5/10

What the hell is this intro? The “ah ah ah ah buh buh buh buh” parts are so weird and annoying and I’m not a fan of that part, but the rest of the song really isn’t too bad. The lyrics are quite impressive, I’m definitely a fan of the lyrics but there’s a little bit of an excess of sound effects and odd noises.

Favorite Lyric: “You build me up like building blocks /  just so you can bring me down”

6.) Soap – 6/10

This was a single from the album. This is pretty good but the bubble noises get old really fast. If it didn’t have the odd bubble sound effect riff, this track would be almost perfect but the noise is incredibly irritating so it docks a lot of points for this one.

Favorite Lyric: “Darling, you’re just soaking in it, but I know you’ll get out the minute / You notice all your fingers pruning up”

7.) Training Wheels – 7/10

This track is the closest thing to a ballad on this album, it has a very twinkly start and you assume it’s going to be a sweet ballad but it gets pretty messed up. The twinkly sounds are pleasant but it’s also super creepy and has spooky vibes (like the spooky demon voice halfway through), but it’s pretty laidback and pleasant to listen to. It’s a very mellow morning playlist sort of deal.

Favorite Lyric: “I carry band-aids on me now / For when your soft hands hit the jagged ground”

8.) Pity Party -7/10

This was one of her singles from the album and I dig it. It’s super catchy and incorporates that old school “It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to” little riff. It has a very techno remix party jam feel to it and I dig it. The scream in the background of one part sticks to the spooky messed up child theme of the album.

Favorite Lyric: “I’ll cry until the candles burn down this place / I’ll cry until my pity party’s in flames”

9.) Tag You’re It – 5/10

Melanie’s voice is edited to sound like an evil demon child half of the time in this track, which is super creepy and disturbing. Actually, HOLY CRAP. The demon voice sounds like Lorde. Oh God, the demon voice sounds like LORDE! Her voice is naturally bubble gum and childlike so the contrast against the demon voice freaks me the hell out. It’s basically about being kidnapped by a creepy man. Oh.

The chorus is SO catchy and I’m in love with the chorus but I cannot tolerate the demon voice—it spooks me out. Seriously, the demon voice is hard to understand and it’s horrifying. I wish the song was just the chorus, I love the chorus but the rest of the song is a no go for me. The twisted “Eenie Meenie Miny Mo” verse is creepy, too.

Favorite Lyric: “Eenie meenie miny mo / Get your lady by her toes if she screams, don’t let her go”

10.) Milk and Cookies -5/10

This is totally a play on playground rhymes but (like every other track) it takes something innocent and childlike and makes it twisted and dark. I quite dig this track and its spookiness but I felt like something was missing.

Favorite Lyric: “Can’t take it anymore, need to put you to bed / Sing you a lullaby where you die at the end”

11.) Pacify Her – 6/10

This has a very innocent ballad style but the whole time I was waiting for that f***ed up twist to come around. This track never got incredibly creepy or eerie, but it got oddly autotuned and the autotune was grossly out of place. This song is, simply, very boring to me. I got bored with its repetitiveness and it has the same old tune as every other song on the album.

Favorite Lyric: “Someone told me stay away from things that aren’t yours / But was he yours, if he wanted me so bad?”

12.) Mrs. Potato Head – 10/10

This song about plastic surgery is very funny and cool. I love the unique topic—not many songs sing about plastic surgery (I can’t think of any) and I love the spooky critique on being plastic. It’s such a fun and funny song, she literally even sings “ha ha.” This is a great social critique and it’s also funny and catchy. Love this—my favorite track for sure!

Favorite Lyric:“Don’t be dramatic it’s only some plastic / No one will love you if you’re unattractive”

13.) Mad Hatter – 7/10

I quite dig this track. The chorus is very catchy and this song is all about how being crazy is the best. It’s a fun and jam sort of track that gets a little bit crazy and whimsical.

Favorite Lyric: “Tell you a secret, I’m not alarmed / So what if I’m crazy? The best people are”

BONUS TRACKS:

14.) Play Date – 9/10

The intro, honest to God, sounds like Marina & the Diamonds and I got so excited. The song started and, again, it sounds like every other song on the album. This definitely is the closest to Marina that this album gets and I dig it, this track is better than many that are actually on the album. I can literally hear Marina & the Diamonds singing this and it makes me so happy because Marina is my GIRL.

Favorite Lyric: “I don’t want to play no games / I’m tired of always chasing, chasing after you”

15.) Teddy Bear – 5/10

This is basically about a a teddy bear (probably a guy) that was sweet but then he totally snapped and went nuts. I’m guessing it’s loosely based on an abusive relationship sort of situation? It sounds like every other track on the album, again.

Favorite Lyric: “I didn’t care, I wasn’t scared / Now I’m finding knives under the sheets, crumbled photographs of me”

16.) Cake – 8/10

The intro to this is AWESOME. It has a very upbeat Victorian vibe and I’m so obsessed. This is one of my favorite tracks and I’m bummed that it’s a bonus track. This one is more different from the other tracks and it stands out, it has a really cool vibe. It makes love and people metaphors of cake and frosting, it’s super interesting and a really great track.

Favorite Lyric: “We’ve got all the ingredients / Except you loving me”

 FINAL THOUGHTS

The one thing I have to say about this album is that it stuck to the theme so well and it’s cohesive as hell. This is great and I love the themed tracks and cohesiveness BUT it did become all of the songs bleeding into each other. Every song was quite similar and it became kind of dull to listen to the entire album, although it wasn’t a bad jam.

Most songs mention pills or dead babies, messed up love, abuse or having skin ripped off. Every track is like a f***ed up nursery rhyme, to be blunt. While this is cool, the novelty wears off rather quickly. Every track bleeds together and listening to the entire album is tiring because you get sick of it easily. I couldn’t find myself getting too into this album, every song seemed to have no beginning or end and I couldn’t listen to the entire thing as a whole more than once. Separately, the tracks are all fairly good, but together it’s just not working for me.

Overall, it’s not a bad album at all. Each song has a lot of delicately crafted elements and I appreciate it. The theme is carried through too well and it’s all a little too much. Let me give you a metaphor: rather than this album being a bunch of scoops of different flavors of delicious ice cream, it’s like they all melted together. What should’ve been a delicious sundae with different but delicious flavors became an ice cream soup. Note how each track had a fairly good rating separately? But when you listen to the album as a whole, nope.

So, there’s my Cry Baby album review! I appreciate her sound effects and creativity and ability to stick to a fun theme, but it was definitely not one of my favorites. I’ll listen to a few tracks over and over on their own, but I can’t see myself wanting to listen to the album as a whole ever again.

Be sure to check out my  Zella Day “Kicker” Album Review and Shawn Mendes “Handwritten” Album Review!