crybabyalbumanalysis

1. Typography
The typography used on this album cover is interesting as it is created through the use of static
images of balloons to form the words instead of superimposed text. This gives the album cover
a more unified look as if it was creating a set or scene we are looking into. It is refreshing to see
the text be utilised as part of the mise-en-scene of an album cover instead of seeming as
though it was an afterthought.
The title is curved over the eponymous character, Cry Baby, reminiscent of a halo. This could
represent that she is angelic and innocent or alternatively this arch could be Melanie/Cry Baby’s
unique version of “seeing her name in lights” which is intrinsically a part of celebrity culture as it
denotes that she’s “made it” and is finally achieving her dream.
The use of balloons to spell out her name is indicative of a celebration, perhaps a birthday party.
This links with a few songs on the album, most notably Pity Party, which is a song exploring the
isolation Melanie/Cry Baby experiences when getting older. This song has a distinctly bitter and
petulant undercurrent, which sums up the entire narrative of the album and the use of balloons
to relate the album cover too it was a good choice to subtly convey the bittersweet tone of the
album, artist and character of Cry Baby. Balloons are almost synonymous with birthday parties
and are characteristic of a child’s party atmosphere and when used subversively as a motif for
an adult artist represents a “loss of innocence” as well as physically and emotionally growing
older. The balloons succinctly represent Melanie/Cry Baby’s internal struggle with becoming an
adult and impulse to hold on to everything that makes her child-like and youthful, perhaps due to
fear of getting older and having to be independent, explored in “Training Wheels”, or due to
trauma she experienced, as hinted by “Tag, You’re It”.

2. Colour
“Baby pink” is the most dominant colour used on this album and it is the most common colour
associated with baby girls, which supports the “Cry Baby” persona that Martinez has created for
this album. It connotes child-like innocence and sweetness but the excessive use of pink can
infer naiveté, immaturity and abandoning your adult responsibilities. Pink is also a romantic
colour as it combines the passion of red with the purity of white and based on some songs on
the album, such as “Carousel” and “Pacify Her”, we can infer that this is used ironically and
understand that Cry Baby’s relationships, like everyone’s, are complex and she may not be as
innocent as she would prefer to convey. The use of a very soft baby pink versus her sexualised
lyrics may also connote an inner struggle inside of Cry Baby/Martinez with accepting her loss of
virginity or the sexualised position society has put her in as you could interpret the baby pink as
white stained with red, representing someone who wishes to remain pure “stained” with passion.
The use of blue to counter the baby pink provides a masculine influence to the album cover, as
blue is commonly associated with baby boys. This also links to another character created on the
album, “Blue Boy”, who is an anonymous figure representing one or multiple crushes and
romantic interests Cry Baby/Martinez has had in the past. The colour blue is also representative
of sadness, supported by the “flood of tears” pooling beneath Martinez, and loneliness,
supported by Melanie being the only figure featured on the cover. While blue can represent
calmness, trust and security it is used more on this cover to further support the morose and
vengeful themes of this album as the colour blue can be interpreted negatively to infer
deceitfulness, spitefulness, self-righteousness and emotional instability. It can also indicate
manipulation, unfaithfulness and being untrustworthy. These negative themes are all link to the
narrative created in almost all of the songs on this album, however they resonate most strongly
with “Pacify Her”, “Training Wheels”, “Play Date”, “Milk and Cookies” and “Alphabet Boy”. These
song specifically explore Cry Baby/Melanie’s her unstable self-image and moods which affect
her interpersonal relationships.
Another subtle but still prominent colour used on the Crybaby album cover is white. As
expected, the colour white has many connotations such as purity and virginity, which support
my earlier points about Melaniez transition from childhood to a woman and what that means for
her with regards to sexuality and relationships. Additionally, the white of her dress is reminiscent
of reminiscent of a wedding gown, which ties in with the romantic themes of this album.
However, Melanie’s dress is not pure white and is infact ivory, which is commonly used to
represent “tainted innocence” as it is tradition to only wear a pure white wedding dress to
symbolise virginity. Furthermore, pure white represents perfection and “goodness”, whereas
ivory doesn’t necessarily. This could represent how unattainable perfection is, as her dress is
off-white and looks almost tea stained, making it a visual metaphor for being “tainted” or
perceived as “dirty” or “impure” for her promiscuous ways. Moving away from the bridal
connections, the use of a white dress and a white cloud is quite reminiscent of depictions of
angels or cherubs looking down on the rest of the world. This once again connotes purity and
childhood, but the use of the cloud causing her to float above the town could represent how Cry
Baby/Martinez feels isolated or like an outsider looking in on other people's lives, or that she is

3. all seeing. This is supported by the storytelling and narrative voice used in “Dollhouse” and
“Sippy Cup”. The connection between angels, clouds and heaven intertwined with the child-like
imagery indicates that Cry Baby/Martinez finds safety in childish things, a common coping
mechanism for those who are mentally ill, as well as abuse victims. These subjects are
referenced in the songs “Mad Hatter”, “Tag, You’re It” and “Teddy Bear”, among others.
Contrary to the angelic imagery previously discussed, Cry Baby/Martinez’s red lipstick connotes
adulthood and power, as well as commanding attention and being an overtly passionate and
seductive colour as it makes the onlookers subconsciously think of kissing. The use of dramatic,
red lips on a character which has so far been represented to be innocent and child-like
represents a disconnect between how Melanie feels and is perceived by others. This is also a
comment on how society sexualises young women, pushing them to be both nymph-like and
soft as well as overtly sexual, which is clearly inappropriate. Martinez is using this disconnect as
a stylistic advantage in her music, she deliberately intends to make her audience uncomfortable
by using childish concepts to describe adult things as this promotes analysis of how society has
come to sexualise innocence.