"Mrs. Potato Head" is the 12th track from Melanie Martinez's debut studio album, Cry Baby. She first confirmed this song would be on the album on June 1st, 2015, and mentioned that it was the most fun to write. The music video was released on December 1st, 2016.
The chorus of the song was leaked on August 3rd after a fan recorded it at one of her intimate V.I.P. shows, despite the fact that fans were not allowed to record or use their handheld devices that night of the show.
Mrs. Potato Head was hailed as a highlight of Cry Baby, with critics praising Melanie's songwriting and vocal delivery, Kinetics & One Love's production, and the song's overall theme.
Background
During her passage in Los Angeles, while taking care of the EP and album productions, Melanie took notice and realized how influential the branch of plastic surgery is in Hollywood. She sees people who succumb to the pressures of Hollywood's ideas of perfection by forcing plastic surgery onto themselves as them being a real-life version of "Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head," a famous American toy consisting of a plastic model of a potato which can be decorated with a variety of plastic parts that can attach to the main body. This song deals with plastic surgery, its consequences, and the struggle for beauty in the modern world itself, and people who succumb to these pressures.
Melanie also explained in an interview that Cry Baby was becoming more confident in her skin, and she is beginning to form her own individual opinions. Melanie said that this song was not about bashing women who get plastic surgery, but more like "Why are you doing this when you're beautiful without it?"
Lyrics
[Verse 1]
If you weren't born with it
You can buy a couple ornaments
Just be sure to read the warning, kids
Cause pretty soon you'll be bored of it, ha-ha
Sexual, hey girl, if you wanna feel sexual
You can always call up a professional
They stick pins in you like a vegetable, ha-ha
[Refrain]
Kids forever, kids forever
Baby soft skin turns into leather
Don't be dramatic, it's only some plastic
No one will love you if you're unattractive
[Chorus]
Oh Mrs. Potato Head, tell me
Is it true that pain is beauty?
Does a new face come with a warranty?
Will a pretty face make it better?
Oh Mr. Potato Head, tell me
How did you afford her surgery?
Do you swear you'll stay forever?
Even if her face don't stay together
Even if her face don't stay together
[Verse 2]
If you want a little more confidence
Potatoes turn to french fries, yeah it's common sense
All you need's a couple more condiments
And a hundred thousand dollars for some compliments, ha-ha
It's such a waste
When little girls grow into their mother's face
But little girls are learning how to cut and paste
And pucker up their lips until they suffocate, ha-ha
[Refrain]
Kids forever, kids forever
Baby soft skin turns into leather
Don't be dramatic, it's only some plastic
No one will love you if you're unattractive
[Chorus]
Oh Mrs. Potato Head, tell me
Is it true that pain is beauty?
Does a new face come with a warranty?
Will a pretty face make it better?
Oh Mr. Potato Head, tell me
How did you afford her surgery?
Do you swear you'll stay forever?
Even if her face don't stay together
Stay forever, stay forever
Even if her face don't stay together
Stay forever, stay forever
Even if her face don't stay together
[Chorus]
Oh Mrs. Potato Head, tell me
Is it true that pain is beauty?
Does a new face come with a warranty?
Will a pretty face make it better?
Oh Mr. Potato Head, tell me
How did you afford her surgery?
Do you swear you'll stay forever?
Even if her face don't stay together
Stay forever, stay forever
Even if her face don't stay together
Stay forever, stay forever
Even if her face don't stay together
Stay forever, stay forever
Even if her face don't stay together
Stay forever, stay forever
Even if her face don't stay together
Videos
The video begins with Cry Baby watching television in her house while brushing her doll's hair and eating cookies. She sees an advertisement for diet pills and begins to believe she needs to be skinnier and stops eating her cookies. An advertisement for blonde wigs comes up, as a tearful Cry Baby goes to the bathroom. She stuffs tissues in her bra to make it look like she has larger breasts, referencing the events in Pacify Her. She then puts on red lipstick, a blonde wig, and swallows a diet pill. Cry Baby walks back to the living room and changes the channel to find Mrs. Potato Head greeting her husband. He gives her flowers, a necklace, and a note that says she has a facelift scheduled. She tries to act happy, but, in reality, she is very nervous. On the day of the appointment, Mr. Potato Head shows the doctors what he would like done to his wife. Then, the surgery is shown. The Bunny Doctor attempts to give Mrs. Potato Head larger breasts and a facelift. At home, Mr. Potato Head cuts Mrs. Potato Head's hair to make the wig look better on her, and then he takes her bandages off. To his surprise, the surgery went horribly wrong and Mrs. Potato Head's face is now ruined. Because she is now ugly in his eyes, Mr. Potato Head leaves his wife for another woman, and Mrs. Potato Head sees this happening outside. Affected by the show, Cry Baby takes off the wig and removes the tissues from her bra. She realizes that she is perfect the way she is and that she doesn't need to change for anyone else.
Cast
- Mrs. Potato Head: Nora Hall
- Mr. Potato Head: Justin Berti
- Mistress: Brittany Williams
- Bunny Doctor: Dan Fleming
- Wig Spokesperson: Lauren Anderson
- Diet Pills Spokesperson: Elizabeth Ferrara
Errors
- At the beginning of the music video, when Mr. Potato Head gives Mrs. Potato Head the box containing the pearl necklace, the box is flat, long, and rectangular. However, after the surgery, during her flashbacks, the box she is holding is small and shaped like a cube; almost like a ring box. In Nora's Mrs. Potato Head Q&A video, she explained that there were more presents.
- When Cry Baby first walks into the bathroom, she goes over the mirror, and her face is seen. It's perfectly fine. She's not crying, and her makeup looks fine. Then she grabs the tissues. In the next shot, she has started crying, and her makeup is smeared all over her face, especially her eye makeup, like she was rubbing her eyes, wiping tears away. But all that happened from the mirror shot to the shot where she grabbed tissues. Her makeup appears to have magically smeared.
Trivia
- This is Melanie's favorite song on Cry Baby.[1]
- In an interview with Billboard, Melanie stated that Mrs. Potato Head was "the most challenging song to write, but it was worth it".[2]
- Melanie wrote this song because she wanted to write a song that helps people get over their insecurities.[3]
- In the physical storybook for this song, a woman is shown on the TV. However, in the digital storybook, the toy Mrs. Potato Head is shown. It's unknown why this occurred.
- This was later fixed, and the digital version now shows the woman as well.
- Melanie once said on Twitter, while she was answering fans' questions, that directing the music video for Mrs. Potato Head was going to be the hardest.
- The music video has reached over 77 million views and 1.6 million likes on YouTube.
- In under one day, the music video reached 3 million views and was #12 on YouTube trending.
- The surgery was scheduled for October 31st, which is Halloween in many countries. This foreshadowed what was going to happen.
- When marking Mrs. Potato Head's face, the doctor is using a Crayola marker.
- The music video was filmed in the same room and on the same day as in the Cry Baby Perfume commercial.
- The video was shot in September of 2016.
- This song got leaked before Melanie released it, disproving the "Melanie will not release leaked songs" rumor.
- Many images from the music video also leaked before it was released. Some of them were deleted scenes.
- The "Dollie's Diet Pills" from the music video could be a reference to Sippy Cup.
- On July 31st, 2017, this song was certified gold.
- The story and illustration for this song appear on the 25th page of the Cry Baby storybook, reading:
"One day she turned on the tv
Mrs. potato on the screen
Showing off her surgeries
She thought that her pain meant beauty"
-14.png "Digital Booklet - Cry Baby (Deluxe)-14.png (761 KB)")
Gallery
Mrs. Potato Head (Song)/Gallery
