"Cry Baby", (also stylized as Crybaby based on its file) is a song by Melanie Martinez . It is the opening and title track from her debut album, Crybaby. It served as an introduction to the character Cry Baby, who will be the main act for the whole record.
Melanie posted a snippet of the song on her Instagram on July 27th, 2015. The music video was released on March 14th, 2016.
Theme
While growing up, people around her once labeled Melanie as a "cry baby", a person who gets upset or emotional at the simplest things. The song is about people, including herself, who are extremely sensitive and tend to be triggered or who get upset easily, consequently ending in tears. The song draws the inspiration for the Cry Baby character, a fictional, child-like version of Melanie herself. Cry Baby struggles through a journey of self-acceptance, but through this song and many others, her journey of growth begins. Cry Baby is a character whom Melanie described as "a child who experiences adult things". However, there are some things in Cry Baby's story that Melanie did not experience herself.
"I wrote this song called "Cry Baby" because some people say that I'm too emotional when I sing, I'm sensitive to crisis in the world like sex trafficking, child cancer, etc. And, I can't hide my feelings and tend to cry to much. This song is my response, I guess my heart is too big for my body."
Lyrics
[Verse 1] You seem to replace Your brain with your heart You take things so hard And then you fall apart You try to explain But before you can start Those cry baby tears Come out of the dark
[Pre-Chorus] Someone's turning the handle To the faucet in your eyes You're pouring out Where everyone can see Your heart's too big for your body It's why you won't fit inside You're pouring out Where everyone can see
[Chorus] They call you cry baby Cry baby But you don't fucking care Cry baby, cry baby So you laugh through your tears Cry baby, cry baby 'Cause you don't fucking care Tears fall to the ground You just let them drown You just let them drown Cry baby, cry baby
[Verse 2] You're all on your own and You lost all your friends You told yourself that It's not you, it's them You're one of a kind And no one understands But those cry baby tears Keep coming back again
[Pre-Chorus] Someone's turning the handle To the faucet in your eyes You're pouring out Where everyone can see Your heart's too big for your body It's why you won't fit inside You're pouring out Where everyone can see
[Chorus] They call you cry baby Cry baby But you don't fucking care Cry baby, cry baby So you laugh through your tears Cry baby, cry baby 'Cause you don't fucking care Tears fall to the ground You just let them drown Cry baby, cry baby You just let them drown Cry baby, cry baby You just let them drown
[Bridge] I look at you and I see myself And I know you better Than anyone else I have the same faucet in my eyes So your tears Are mine
[Chorus] They call me cry baby Cry baby But I don't fucking care Cry baby, cry baby How I laugh through my tears Cry baby, cry baby 'Cause I don't fucking care Tears fall to the ground I just let them drown
[Outro] Cry baby, cry baby I just let them drown Cry baby, cry baby You just let them drown They call you cry baby, cry baby I just let them drown Cry baby, cry baby You just let them drown
Official music video
Behind the Scenes Exclusive
Music Video
The music video was directed and conceived by Melanie herself. The intro of the video shows the story of Cry Baby's birth. After her birth, the brother lights up his mother's cigarette. When the nurse comes with the new-born whiny baby, the mom is aggravated by her daughter's crying and calls her a "cry baby". At that moment the brother goes to a desk and writes down on a birth certification the name "Cry Baby", choosing her name. After that, the nurse leaves the room with the baby. The end of the intro focuses on the certification in a vignette effect. After the hospital scene, Cry Baby's childhood is showed as the song starts. In the opening scene, she's presented with half-blonde hair waking up from a crib. In the next scene, she is in a high chair having half-silver hair, her mother approaches with a mostly drunken bottle of wine in her hand and tries to feed her. During the video, there is an alternation of the two Cry Babies and Them dealing with sadness. At one time she is harassed by her toys, the moment she starts to cry an entire pool of tears flood the room and overflow out the window of a dollhouse, setting up the events of .
Cast
Mom: Stella Rose Saint ClairBrother: Ian VolandtNurse: Lainey O'SullivanBunny Doctor: William Scott Blair
Errors
After the hospital scene, when Cry Baby is sitting in her high chair and her mom comes in to feed her, the mom has a bottle of wine in her hand. When she walks to the high chair, it is filled with red wine. However, in the next scene, it's white wine, as it's now see-through.When her birth certificate is shown it reads "Crybaby" despite being stylized with a space everywhere else.
Trivia
There was a called "Cry Baby", designed by Melanie herself in collaboration with Doe DeereMelanie wore the in the music video for this song.This song was made in the same session as "" and "".In the music video, after Cry Baby is born, her brother lights a cigarette for their mom, which foreshadows and sparks his smoking addiction later in his life.He also writes his sister's name on her birth certificate, giving her the name Crybaby.However, her name later appears as Cry Baby. It is unknown if this was a mistake or if it is intentional.In the interview Melanie said, that the birth was the funniest scene in the music video.In that same interview, Melanie said she was embarrassed to teach a child to light a cigarette.The clock in the music video is a Kit-Cat Klock.The cat clock that appears in the hospital scene is also the same clock that appears in the "" music video.This song and "Training Wheels" are the only two explicit songs on Cry Baby to have lyric changes in their clean versions.On occasion, Melanie sang the clean version of the song when singing live. Normally, she would replace the word "fucking" with "even."In some performances, the word "fucking" was instead replaced with the song's intro sounds.This song was certified gold on July 12th, 2017.Melanie stated in an interview that the inspiration for this song's music video came from the 1988 film .On April 8th, 2016, Melanie had stated on Twitter that if people were to Shazam "Pity Party" they would be able to watch the behind the scenes video of "Cry Baby". However, the following day, on April 9th, 2016, the feature was removed and Melanie had uploaded the video on her YouTube channel.During the Dollhouse Tour, Melanie would perform the song after singing "" with a transition between them.This track, and "" have the same tempo. (190BPM)The line, "Your heart's too big for your body" inspired Melanie for her username in most of all her social media accounts (@littlebodybigheart).An official export of this song with an open verse was most likely to pitch for other artists, but it remained unreleased."Carousel" also had an open verse exported.The story and illustration for this song appear on the 1st page of the Cry Baby storybook, reading:
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