"Pacify Her" (originally titled "Pacifier") is a song by Melanie Martinez featured as the eleventh track on her debut album, Cry Baby.
Two snippets were posted in 2014, one in the summer and another one in the fall. Melanie then posted a third snippet on her Instagram on August 7th, 2015
The music video was released on November 15th, 2016.
Theme[]
Cry Baby no longer cares whether she's with a guy, but she gets rid of a girl who's with a guy for fun. Cry Baby is set on trying to free the boy from the grip of his girlfriend, even though she doesn’t really love the boy herself. She uses a play on words in the title, it can be heard as "pacifier", which is a rubber object used to silence a crying infant. She knows that the boy has feelings for her and not for his current lover, so she insists that he should get rid of her once and for all: she’s embraced being a homewrecker. This may be Cry Baby taking after her father, whom she has experienced witnessing his many affairs behind her drunken mother's back before his death.
Lyrics[]
[Verse 1]
Tired, blue boy walks my way
Holding a girl's hand
That basic bitch leaves finally
Now I can take her man
[Pre-chorus]
Someone told me stay away from things that aren't yours
But was he yours if he wanted me so bad?
[Chorus]
Pacify her
She's getting on my nerves
You don't love her
Stop lying with those words
Pacify her
She's getting on my nerves
You don't love her
Stop lying with those words
[Verse 2]
I can't stand her whining
Where's her binky now?
And loving her seems tiring
So boy, just love me, down, down, down
[Pre-chorus]
Someone told me stay away from things that aren't yours
But was he yours if he wanted me so bad?
[Chorus]
Pacify her
She's getting on my nerves
You don't love her
Stop lying with those words
Pacify her
She's getting on my nerves
You don't love her
Stop lying with those words
[Bridge]
Pacify her
She's getting on my nerves
You don't love her
Stop lying with those words
[Chorus]
Pacify her
She's getting on my nerves
You don't love her
Stop lying with those words
Pacify her
She's getting on my nerves
You don't love her
Stop lying with those words
Official versions[]
| Version | Released on | Release date | Producer(s) | Creation date | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final | Cry Baby | August 14th, 2015 | Micheal Keenan | April 25th, 2014 | 3:40 | |
| Instrumental | Unreleased | - | Micheal Keenan | April 25th, 2014 | 3:37 | |
| Demos | ||||||
| "PacifierMK_03" (demo) | Unreleased | - | Micheal Keenan | April 2014 | 3:35 | |
Gallery[]
Music video[]
The video begins showing Cry Baby playing a board game in a playpen in her house. Shots of Melanie singing and dancing with a background of toys and stars are shown throughout the video. Basic Bitch and Blue Boy enter and begin to play Patty Cake. Cry Baby and Blue Boy look at each other, clearly in love. Cry Baby writes a note reading "Do you want to play?" She swallows it and it appears in Blue Boy's lap. He reads the note and they look at each other, as Cry Baby's eyes enlarge, showing that she is in love again. Basic Bitch then reads the note, rips it in Blue Boy's face, and throws it at Cry Baby. Growing angry, Cry Baby uses telekinesis to lift her board game and throw it at Basic Bitch. Cry Baby then begins to rip the head off of her dolls, causing Basic Bitch to become uncomfortable. To get Blue Boy's attention, Cry Baby lifts her own head off of her body, causing him to laugh. To regain his interest, Basic Bitch goes in for a kiss, only to have a pacifier appear in her mouth. Cry Baby and Blue Boy crawl towards each other, but Basic Bitch steps in the middle and shows Blue Boy her breasts. Convinced, Blue Boy leaves with Basic Bitch, leaving Cry Baby distraught and crying.
Cast[]
- Cry Baby: Melanie Martinez
- Basic Bitch: Melanie Martinez
- Blue Boy: Lucas Mogerley
Errors[]
- For a few frames, part of Basic Bitch's hair turns orange, then reverts to normal. This may be an export glitch.
Trivia[]
- The production on the song is extremely different in early performances. For example, there was a music box crank at the beginning and after each post-chorus instrumental section. There were also no backing vocals in the pre-chorus.
- It was later found out that early demos of the song included this production.
- Blue Boy is a reference to the nursery rhyme "Little Boy Blue", in which Boy Blue is asleep and not doing his job, hence the lyrics "Tired, Blue Boy..."
- Cry Baby's eyes enlarge again while looking at the Blue Boy in the music video, similar to the way she looked at Johnny in the "Soap" and "Training Wheels" double feature music video.
- The enlarged eyes may represent Cry Baby's desire for those two.
- This is one of the few songs performed on the Dollhouse Tour before Cry Baby's release.
- The music video reached over 152 million views on YouTube on January 11th, 2019, making it Melanie's fourth music video and her first non-single music video to reach this achievement.
- In the music video, Melanie plays both Cry Baby and Basic Bitch. Her friend Brian Zuniga gave her this idea.
- For the role of Basic Bitch, Melanie covered up all of her tattoos with foundation, then used CGI to make it look more realistic.
- A similar tactic was later used in K-12.
- For the role of Basic Bitch, Melanie covered up all of her tattoos with foundation, then used CGI to make it look more realistic.
- Cry Baby's outfit in the crib scene is similar to the outfit she wears in the storybook illustration.
- Cry Baby's pink outfit in the music video includes the Crybaby nameplate necklace from Melanie's merch store.
- In the video, Cry Baby plays a game called Funny Bunnies, likely inspired by the real game Funny Bunny.[2]
- This was the first time Cry Baby openly used her Empath powers; she uses telekinesis and the ability to detach her head from her body.
- On the music video's set, there was a dog named Lucas.[3]
- The title of the song is a homophone of the word 'pacifier'.
- Despite the lyrics containing the word 'bitch', this song isn't marked as explicit, therefore, there is no official clean version of the song.
- The song was never performed at any of Melanie's concerts in 2017.
- Pacify Her was certified gold on September 19th, 2017.
- It is believed that Melanie shot both the "Mrs. Potato Head" music video and the Cry Baby Perfume Milk commercial at the same location as this music video, due to a similar set and her pink pigtail hairstyle and makeup.
- This is Melanie's most streamed song from the standard version on Cry Baby, amassing a total of over 470 million streams on Spotify alone. On the deluxe version, "Play Date" is the most streamed.
- The track's original file name is "PacifierMK_03".
- The story and illustration for this song appear on the 21st page of the Cry Baby storybook, reading:
Pacify Her's Digital Booklet Page
"She escaped and was never the same
She swayed a boy who had been claimed
And pacified ol' what’s her name
Not out of love, just played a game"
