Although it was released in 2015, Melanie Martinez’s debut album “Cry Baby” still remains a provocative and socially relevant album almost a decade later. Martinez, now 28 years old, released the album consisting of 13 songs, where she makes use of a somewhat childlike aesthetic to address serious topics in society.
The first song on the album, “Pity Party,” describes a girl who throws a birthday party in which nobody turns up at. At a first glance the song has a simple message, but looking deeper we see Martinez dive into the feelings of loneliness and the social isolation that comes with being different from others. She teaches listeners that it is okay to be different than others.
Throughout the album, she uses common childhood instances such as the birthday party to reflect a deeper and more important message about the society that we live in.
Another song, “Sippy Cup,” describes a series of instances describing various kinds of people all attempting to fill their sorrow in shallow escapes, like drinking, surgery, etc. She addresses how falling into these temptations will not make anybody’s issues disappear, and instead will just deepen their mental grasp. Again she uses a childish front to depict this, with an upbeat pop sound that carries through all of her songs.
Not every album can so deeply touch a heart, but “Cry Baby” does this perfectly as Martinez captures the human experience in all of its pain and glory, cleverly fronting it with a colorful and innocent aesthetic. She uses an upbeat rhythm to guise the darker topics she deals with. “Cry Baby” as a whole was a cultural reset and I would give this album a 10/10.