Cry Baby (alternately spelled as Crybaby), also known as The Creature[1] is an empath and the central character of the Cry Baby universe. She is portrayed by Melanie Martinez.
Being an empath, Cry Baby doesn't die, but rather reincarnates. Physically, her bodies waste away with time, but her soul stays intact, aside from its memories of her previous life. She learns from experiences shown throughout Melanie's songs, official music videos, storybooks, concert tours, and other mediums. Essentially, she is an all-powerful being transcending on an endless journey.
Family[]
Cry Baby's family included her older brother, mother, and father. Her father was involved in an affair, which caused her mother to become depressed and an alcoholic. Her family pretended to be perfect when in the company of others, causing Cry Baby to feel fake and plastic ("Dollhouse"). Her dysfunctional family fell apart even more when her mother killed her father after finding out about his infidelity ("Sippy Cup"). Cry Baby also could not contact her mother while at school (K-12) due to her mother being drunk and passed out.
Personality & traits[]
Cry Baby was introduced as a young, sensitive girl, living in a very problematic household. As a result of her emotional nature, she was consistently mocked and made fun of. In much of her beginnings, Cry Baby was insecure, and was prone to violent temper tantrums. As the album progresses, Cry Baby grows as an individual, gradually learning to overcome her struggles with confidence and learns what it means to be a happy person.
In K-12, Cry Baby was revealed to be an empath guided by Lilith (a spirit guide). When her eyes turn black, it represents her being awakened to a higher level of consciousness. Being an empath, Cry Baby has displayed several magical abilities. According to Lilith, Cry Baby has lived in several other bodies before (having many past lives).
It is implied that Cry Baby is likely bisexual, because she thought the love letter she received from Ben was written by a girl and appeared mildly disappointed when Leo, a boy, claimed to have written it. Aside from that, she cares for her friends very greatly. Although she can be mischievous and sensitive, she is mostly kind and selfless and doesn’t particularly enjoy violence, though she resorts to it when she must.
In Alternative Press magazine, Cry Baby was revealed to be Taurus sun and Scorpio rising. Her zodiac sign was described as generous, dependable, down to earth, patient, independent and persistent, but also as stubborn, self-indulgent, lazy, materialistic, possessive and frugal, which may mean she is a Gemini, a Sagittarius, a Taurus or a Scorpio.
Appearance[]
Cry Baby's iconic physical features in the storybook are her brown hair in two twin-drill pigtails with bows varying in color, and her brown eyes (they turn completely black sometimes) and a gap between her two front teeth. Similarly to other characters, her clothing varies, although it is generally a dress with shoes and pastel yellow socks. In music videos, she has two-toned hair, one side colored and one side dark brown. The coloring and style vary between music videos and scenes.
In K-12, Cry Baby wears a modified version of the K-12 Sleepaway School uniform: she has dyed the pink dress purple and woven flowers through the sleeves. She also wears a Rococo-style dress in the school play, as well as a swimsuit and a dress with a cake skirt later on. The colored side of her hair mostly stays as blonde, but changes occasionally to coral, pink, lavender, and orange. Like Melanie, Cry Baby also has a gap between her front teeth.
In PORTALS, Cry Baby is reincarnated as a celestial being, seemingly from another planet/world. She has pink skin, 2 pairs of blue eyes, dark purple lips, and green hair that can vary in shades. She can be seen wearing various nature-inspired clothing, such as the mushroom shoes she wears in the "DEATH" music video, or the vegetation-like drapes she wears over herself during her setlist at Lollapalooza on March 18, 2023. She sprouts a pair of wings shortly after her rebirth in the "DEATH" music video.
Life[]
Cry Baby[]
Not long after Cry Baby was born, her mother labeled her as "a cry baby" because of her excessively loud crying. Her brother then writes "Cry Baby" on her birth certificate, taking his mother's comment literally. At home, when Cry Baby's mother attempts to feed her, she throws a tantrum and hallucinates her toys coming after her. ("Cry Baby").
That night, Cry Baby is restless, but so is her mother, who catches her husband with another woman. She ties both of them up and stabs them to death, presumably under the influence of alcohol. After Cry Baby discovers her father and his mistress' bodies, her mother drugs her to make her forget what she saw. ("Sippy Cup").
Cry Baby later enters a relationship with a boy that she meets at a carnival and she later referred to him as Alphabet Boy. The relationship is very one-sided and constantly causes Cry Baby to feel like she will never "catch up to love." ("Carousel").
Cry Baby soon realizes that this relationship is toxic and breaks up with him. She wishes to prove to him how tough she is and becomes aggressive, attacking her household items with a knife, hoping he can see her. ("Alphabet Boy").
Cry Baby later meets another boy but is incredibly nervous about interacting with him. She says many embarrassing things, as hinted in the lines, "Uh-oh, there it goes, I said too much, it overflowed/Why do I always spill?". She is afraid to say that she loves him, in case he is not at the same stage as her, or he does not love her back ("Soap").
Cry Baby and the boy, named Johnny, get into a relationship and Cry Baby decides to take their relationship to the next level ("Training Wheels").
Cry Baby throws a birthday party, to which no one, including Johnny, arrives. This causes her to completely destroy her house in an insane rampage, which she later seems to regret. ("Pity Party").
Cry Baby breaks up with Johnny. Alone and insecure, she goes shopping and an ice cream truck appears outside of the store. The cashier seems to take this as a bad omen and hands Cry Baby a bottle of poison as she leaves. Cry Baby stops by the ice cream truck, which is run by a wolf. This is most likely a metaphor for disguised predators. The wolf drugs her ice cream and drives off with her. ("Tag, You're It").
The wolf orders Cry Baby to make him milk and cookies at his lair. Although initially terrified, Cry Baby eventually becomes crafty and as a means to escape she uses the poison handed to her by the cashier and poisons the cookies while the wolf picks up the phone. She then watches as the poison begins to take effect and leaves the room, escaping the wolf's house. ("Milk and Cookies").
After escaping, Cry Baby attempts to invite her friend over. Her friend, Blue Boy, is in a relationship with a girl Cry Baby calls "Basic Bitch". Cry Baby notes that Blue Boy does not seem happy and decides to make him like her; she is unsuccessful after Basic Bitch wins him over by showing him her breasts. ("Pacify Her").
Now aware that attractive bodies have a great effect on boys, Cry Baby begins to grow self-conscious. After seeing many beauty ads on TV, she believes her hair needs to be a different color, she has to be thinner, and she has to have bigger breasts in order to be loved. However, after seeing Mrs. Potato Head's horror story on TV, Cry Baby reaches the epiphany that she is perfect the way she is and there is nothing that she needs to change. ("Mrs. Potato Head").
Later, Cry Baby decides to try smoking but finds one of her mother's drinks in her room. Cry Baby drinks the liquid which causes her to hallucinate people with all-black eyes standing around her bed. Cry Baby passes out and has a dream representing her self-reflection and how she has learned to love herself despite the fact that she goes a bit crazy sometimes. ("Mad Hatter").
K-12[]
Cry Baby is sent to start her education at a boarding school called K-12 Sleepaway School along with her best friend, Angelita. On the bus ride to school, where she is sitting with Angelita, Cry Baby is bullied by the other students for the gap between her two front teeth ("Wheels on the Bus"). She and Angelita are both revealed to have powers that turn their eyes completely black. The girls use their powers to prank some of their fellow students, but when the bus driver becomes distracted by the students who are misbehaving and swerves into a lake, they use their powers to lift the bus out of the water and into the sky, before landing it at the school.
Cry Baby and Angelita arrive late to Ms. Daphne's class and are scolded by her. The rest of the students recite Ms. Daphne's rule about tardiness: "when the bell rings, you must be in your assigned seat". During class, Cry Baby and a boy named Brandon become friends, but Kelly, Brandon's girlfriend, believes Cry Baby and Brandon are "flirting" and writes a disturbing letter for Cry Baby saying "You at Recess" accompanied by a stick person laying next to a tombstone. At naptime, Cry Baby shows Angelita the letter. Cry Baby expresses her worries that she has no chance at winning since she doesn't know how to fight, to which Angelita suggests that she uses her powers. Cry Baby refuses, stating that it would be cheating. At recess, Brandon decides to play with Angelita and Cry Baby, prompting Kelly to become aggressive to Cry Baby and even cut her with a knife; Cry Baby levitates and attempts to strangle Kelly with her braids. As this is happening, Ms. Daphne sees what is happening and stops the fight ("Class Fight").
Cry Baby and Kelly are sent to The Principal's office. While they are waiting to see him, Cry Baby finds out from another kid waiting in the principal's office that the Principal forces the students to take pills in order to control them and stop them from leaving the school. Angered, Cry Baby uses her powers to call him on the phone anonymously and insults him, calling him out on everything he has done wrong. (“The Principal”) Cry Baby then uses her powers to poison him and escapes from the office. Meanwhile, Ms. Daphne finds the passed out Principal and orders the Bunny Doctors to cure him.
Cry Baby is late for class, and as punishment Ms. Penelope turns Cry Baby into a puppet and forces her to dance but then accidentally drops her, breaking the doll. ("Show & Tell"). Ms. Penelope takes Cry Baby into the Nurse's Office and Angelita, who is on her way to class, sees Cry Baby and turns her back into a human. The nurses attempt to keep the duo restrained and under control ("Nurse's Office") until an angelic spirit guide named Lilith frees Cry Baby and Angelita.
In drama class, Cry Baby is placed in a sexist role for the school play, and she tells the teacher that she hates this role, instead wishing to play a strong role such as a film director or the President of the United States. The teacher, Mr. Cornwell, dismisses her concerns and calls in the guards to capture her when she attempts to leave. Cry Baby is forced to play the role, although the events take a turn when she presses a hot clothes iron to another student's face. She then warns the students in the auditorium that they are being brainwashed, and uses her powers to defeat the guards and free the students. The students rush to the Principal's Office at Cry Baby's order and begin tearing him apart, killing him ("Drama Club"). Cry Baby and Angelita bury the body, then leave to play tennis with their friend Celeste, who was revealed to have the same powers as the girls during "Wheels on the Bus".
Cry Baby and the other students end up heading to swimming class, but Cry Baby notes that the school's provided swimsuits for girls are too skimpy; she and her friends end up not engaging in the class ("Strawberry Shortcake"). Cry Baby then has a dream in which she is speaking to Lilith, telling her that she doesn't want to be part of this world. Lilith tells her however that she needs to press on, and Cry Baby is ushered back into the real world.
At lunchtime, Kelly and her friends attempt to rope Cry Baby into spreading rumors with them, but Cry Baby leaves and ends up meeting Magnolia, a girl who has the same powers as her and her friends ("Lunchbox Friends"). Cry Baby and her friends soon discover that Fleur, a friend of Kelly, has the same abilities as them, and they set up a food fight in an attempt to separate her from the group. After seeing that Fleur is leaving with Kelly, Cry Baby follows her to the bathroom, where she realizes that Fleur is bulimic, likely partially due to pressure from Kelly to maintain a specific figure in order to remain friends with her ("Orange Juice"). Cry Baby tells Fleur that "everyone is deserving of love", and the two become friends. Leo, the Principal's son, stops the food fight and asks who is responsible for the situation. Kelly informs him that Cry Baby was the one who started it, resulting in her being sent to detention. In detention, the nurses give the students medication through syringes to brainwash them into doing more schoolwork. Cry Baby manages to hypnotize Leo into letting her go free ("Detention").
Cry Baby discovers an anonymous note in her locker, containing a poem from another student confessing their feelings to her. She and her friends discuss a plan to take down Leo and escape the school, unaware that Leo is watching through security cameras. In biology class, the teacher, who is working with Leo, flirts with Angelita and invites her to stay after class. After class, he gives Angelita a poisoned lollipop that shrinks her. He attempts to dissect her, but Cry Baby hears Angelita's pleas for help. She enters the room and uses her powers to throw him into the wall. She turns Angelita back to her normal size, and the latter attacks the teacher with a knife, presumably killing him ("Teacher's Pet").
Cry Baby and Angelita steal some of Ms. Daphne's drugs and decide to practice their powers on a bunny sculpture. That night in the dorm, Cry Baby cannot sleep due to worry about the note. To clear her mind, she goes to dance in the hall before returning to bed. As she goes to sleep, she hugs the note she was given ("High School Sweethearts").
The next morning Leo asks Cry Baby to the school dance, to which she accepts, while thinking "keep your friends close and your enemies closer". He claims to be the one who wrote the love note. At the dance, Cry Baby realizes that she had messed up the plan to escape the school by accepting Leo's offer. Her friends express disappointment in her, and she storms off to the bathroom. A ghost appears in the mirror, telling Cry Baby, "Don't beat yourself up" when she is mad at herself for ruining the plan. Leo makes an announcement to the students that he knew what Cry Baby had been planning, and forces all of the students to dance for hours. Cry Baby, who is disguised as a woman named Lorelai, locks Leo in a closet and frees everyone from the spell. She warns the students to leave the school, and all except Kelly fled downstairs to the exit ("Recess").
Cry Baby then meets Ben, who confesses to her that he was the one who put the note in her locker. Together, they create a plan to use a bubble to make the school float away and disappear. Once this is done, they both jump out of the balcony to escape. After the school disappears, Cry Baby kisses Ben on the cheek. Lilith appears again with the gate to return home. Magnolia, Fleur, Celeste, and Ben are the first ones to leave. As Angelita was about to go through the gate, she stops and asks Cry Baby if she's coming or not. Cry Baby looks back in shock.
PORTALS[]
After the events of K-12, Cry Baby was shot by cupid and died from his cupid arrow, as shown in The Trilogy Tour. However, due to her being an empath, her soul has reincarnated into an otherworldly being's body. This being is assumed to be the beginning stages of an angel’s form given The Creature's monologue opening during the PORTALS Tour.[2]
Powers & abilities[]
Main article: Empath
As an empath in the Cry Baby universe, Cry Baby is shown to have magic/psychic powers, where her eyes turn black when she uses them. This is shown multiple times throughout Cry Baby and K-12. Unlike her friend Angelita, Cry Baby doesn't like to take advantage of her skills for her own benefit. Below is a list of powers that Cry Baby has displayed thus far:
- Telekinesis: Like all empaths, Cry Baby has demonstrated to use her telekinesis to manipulate objects with her mind's force. This is first demonstrated in "Pacify Her", when Cry Baby levitates a chessboard and throws it at Basic Bitch. This ability is also shown in multiple scenes of K-12, such as when Cry Baby causes the bus to hit a bump which makes Jason fall over and when she lifts the bus out of the water and into the air.
- Disintegration: At the end of "The Principal", Cry Baby raises her arms and dispels the members of the courtroom, with a cloud of pink smoke surrounding them as they disappear. She later used this same power to make Kelly disappear at the end of "Orange Juice", as well as the ending of K-12.
- Mental reintegration: At the end of "Teacher's Pet", Cry Baby turns Angelita back to her normal size, with a small cloud of pink smoke surrounding her after that, also sharing this ability with Angelita when she turns Cry Baby back into a human after she was transformed into a puppet in "Show & Tell"
- Mind control denial: In "Drama Club", Cry Baby's scream causes a psychic-like wave that deactivated the mind control that was placed on the students. Additionally, this wave was able to push away the security guards that were holding her.
- Hydrokinesis: In the middle of "Class Fight" acting, Cry Baby drops a few water droplets on the fire spark on Angelita's hand. This skill may also be related to the fact that she can fill a whole room with her tears. If this is true, it means it is the first power Cry Baby ever showed to have.
- Levitation/flight: This ability is first shown in "Carousel", where Cry Baby floats slowly chasing Alphabet Boy, next is "Mad Hatter", when Cry Baby floats in the air before dying the roses with red, as well as other scene in the same music video. In "Class Fight", Cry Baby also levitates herself along with Kelly in the air. Similarly, Cry Baby is able to fly using her wings in her spirit form in "DEATH".
- Mind control: In "Detention", it is shown that Cry Baby can control people's minds for a while. Cry Baby used this skill to control Leo's mind, so he would free her from Detention Room. This was also shown on "Class Fight", manipulating a snake, and "Wheels on the Bus" manipulating everyone into doing the same choreography.
- Poison manipulation: In "The Principal", it is implied that Cry Baby turned the glass bottle of water that the Principal was about to drink into a blue poison, as her eyes turned black before the film cuts to a shot of the liquid in the bottle turning blue. This poison causes the Principal to choke and faint.
- The blue poison that almost killed the Principal is very similar to the blue poison that killed the Big Bad Wolf in "Milk and Cookies".
- Chromokinesis: In the "Mad Hatter" music video, Cry Baby is shown to change the petal's appearance from white to red followed by the other Rushton Dolls.
- Shapeshifting: During "Recess", it is revealed that Cry Baby has the power to shape-shift into other forms, what works like a kind of hallucination. She disguised herself as a woman named Lorelai and tricked Leo into entering the closet, where she transformed back to her regular self and left him locked inside.
- Bubble encapsulation: Before "Strawberry Shortcake" and toward the end of K-12, it is shown that Cry Baby can blow bubbles that are able to encapsulate and store objects. These bubbles seem to be rather powerful, as they were able to lift the school off of the ground and cause it to float it away. When the bubble popped, the school disappeared.
- Tele-materialization: On the start of "The Principal", Cry Baby is shown to tele-materialize a telephone above her head to call the Principal. This power is also shown on "Orange Juice", as Cry Baby tele-materialize a ladder while climbing it to reach Fleur and Kelly above the tree. Lastly, although in a different manner, Cry Baby tele-materializes a sword behind her back and unsheathes it in "VOID".
- Remote viewing: It is seen that Cry Baby can see things when she isn't there. Before "The Principal", Cry Baby used her powers to see what was going on in the Principal's office.
- Physical manipulation: During "Class Fight", Cry Baby grows her braids far enough to wrap around Kelly's neck and strangle her.
- Interdimensional transportation: In "Dollhouse", Cry Baby transports the Little Girl to her "Dollhouse Dimension".
Relationship with Angelita[]
In K-12, Cry Baby and Angelita are introduced as best friends, but their relationship prior to the events of the film remains unclear. However, they seem to have a very strong friendship that may be related to their powers.
In the Cry Baby universe, Cry Baby is portrayed as an empath, a person who possesses magical abilities and a higher comprehension of emotions. Empaths are believed to learn from experiences throughout their lifetimes, gradually evolving into higher beings. While they do not retain memories of their past lives, they still hold onto the feelings and experiences associated with them. Angelita as well is also an empath.
During their conversation about their past lives, Cry Baby and Angelita express uncertainty about the nature of their relationship in previous incarnations, but are certain that they had met before, with Angelita noting "We've probably had hundreds of lives together". This suggests a deep spiritual bond between the two characters, with the spirit of Cry Baby being closely connected to the spirit of Angelita.
Original name[]
In the early stages of the album, Melatonin was the original name for the character, with Cry Baby being just a nickname. Melatonin is a hormone primarily released at night, and has long been associated with control of the sleep–wake cycle.
Cry Baby is referred as Melatonin in "Coloring Book", "Milk and Cookies", "Zzzz" and "Walkie Talkie". Although when mentioned in "Milk and Cookies" it's possible that it was only referring to the hormone. “Melatonin” may still be a canonical nickname for Cry Baby.
Gallery[]
To view the gallery of Cry Baby (character), click here.
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Trivia[]
- Cry Baby was created to show the younger, emotional side of Melanie.
- Chloe Tersigni drew the illustrations of Cry Baby's cartoon portrait in the storybook. She was a fan and friend of Melanie for a long time.
- In the "Pity Party" music video, there are nine candles on the cake, hinting that Cry Baby is nine years old.
- However, in the storybook, "Pity Party"'s illustration depicts three candles, indicating Cry Baby is three years old. It is mostly likely that she was 3.
- Cry Baby's birthday is likely to be on August 14, as that was when the album of the same name was released (which was the album she was born in, an infant, and a toddler). This is also supported by Cry Baby writing August on the invitations in the music video for Pity Party.
- However, it was confirmed in an article in Alternative Press that Cry Baby's sun sign is Taurus, which means that her birthday is sometime between April 20-May 20, as that is when Taurus season is.
- Katie Sheridan was the first actress to play Cry Baby other than Melanie Martinez.
- A playlist available on Spotify created by Melanie describes what Cry Baby would play at her party.[3]
- There were 14 songs added: "Pity Party" by Melanie Martinez, "YOUTH" by Troye Sivan, ""Work" by Rihanna & Drake, "Gold" by Kiiara, "Conqueror" by AURORA, "In Time" by FKA twigs, "Desperado" by Rihanna, "High By The Beach" by Lana Del Rey, "Don't Wanna Be Your Girl" by Wet, "California" by Grimes, "Chasing Shadows" by Santigold, "Criminal" by Fiona Apple, "Needed Me" by Rihanna, and lastly "God Knows I Tried" by Lana Del Rey.
References[]
[]
v • e | |
---|---|
Featured tracks | Dollhouse • Carousel • Dead to Me • Bittersweet Tragedy |
Characters | Cry Baby • Mom • Dad • Brother • Little Girl • Alphabet Boy |
Producers | One Love • Robopop |
Extras | Merchandise • Infomercial • Pity Party (EP) |
Locations | Cry Baby's house |
Tour | Dollhouse Tour |
v • e | |
---|---|
Featured tracks | Pity Party • Dollhouse • Dead to Me • Bittersweet Tragedy |
Characters | Cry Baby • Mom • Dad • Brother • Little Girl |
Producers | One Love • CJ Baran • Robopop |
Related | Dollhouse (EP) |
v • e | |
---|---|
Featured tracks | DEATH • VOID • TUNNEL VISION • FAERIE SOIRÉE • LIGHT SHOWER • SPIDER WEB • LEECHES • BATTLE OF THE LARYNX • THE CONTORTIONIST • MOON CYCLE • NYMPHOLOGY • EVIL • WOMB |
Bonus tracks | THE HATCHING • POWDER • PLUTO • MILK OF THE SIREN |
Scrapped tracks | Barely Juice • Corpse • Death • Dragon's Blood • Emerald • Fairy Dance • Fingers Crossed • Fragile • Garden • Hawaii Space Guitar • Inconsistent Flame • Jinx • Labyrinth (version 1) • Labyrinth (version 2) • Magnets • Menace to Society • Mother of Pearl • Needle and Thread • Not Dead, Just Expired • Puzzles • Synchronicities • Tunnel Vision • Void • Walkie Talkie |
Related tracks | Gravitate |
Characters | The Creature (Cry Baby) • Masked Dancers • Faeries |
Producers | Melanie Martinez • One Love • CJ Baran • Verde • The 23rd • Pearl Lion • Simon Says • Cautious Clay (deluxe) |
Extras | Egg hatching • Film • Merchandise • Portals Parfums • Melanie Madness |
Tour | PORTALS Tour • The Trilogy Tour |