"Dollhouse"
Single by Melanie Martinez
from the EP Dollhouse and the album Cry Baby
ReleasedFebruary 9, 2014
RecordedSeptember 2013
Length3:52
LabelAtlantic
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Kinetics & One Love
Melanie Martinez singles chronology
"Dollhouse"
(2014)		 "Carousel"
(2014)
Music video
"Dollhouse" on YouTube

"Dollhouse" is the debut single by American singer-songwriter Melanie Martinez. Written alongside music duo Kinetics & One Love, the song was released on February 9, 2014 as the lead single of her debut EP of the same name, and later featured on her debut studio album, Cry Baby (2015). Lyrically, "Dollhouse" is about a dysfunctional family, who, according to Martinez, is "hiding being a perfect plastic facade". Martinez has also stated that "Dollhouse" is a metaphor for how people view celebrities and their seemingly perfect public lives.

The song was featured in a preview for the ABC Family series Pretty Little Liars.[1]

Background and composition

"Dollhouse" was revealed to be a prequel to "Sippy Cup", another single from the Cry Baby album that is about an alcoholic mother who decides to kill her husband and his mistress, sparing only her daughter.[2]

Lyrically, according to Martinez, the song discusses a dysfunctional family that is "hiding behind a perfect facade", while also serving as a double entendre "for how people view celebrities" and their seemingly perfect public lives.[3]

Music video

The music video for the song was directed by Nathan Scialom & Tom McNamara and uploaded on Martinez's YouTube channel on February 9, 2014.[4] The video starts with a little girl playing with her dolls in a dollhouse. A visible doll is one that has makeup that is made to look like Martinez, who is playing the character Cry Baby in the video. The girl leaves the dollhouse, and the camera gives a closeup as the song starts. It then zooms in on Cry Baby, who is inside of the dollhouse. She sheds the light on her dysfunctional family, explaining that her father is out cheating on her mother, while her brother is smoking marijuana, as the camera pans over her mother who is passed out on the couch holding a wine bottle.

The video then shows the family dressing up so they can look perfect in public and put on the facade of being a perfect family. After this the camera shows the family sitting on the couch, watching TV. Cry Baby describes that, to the outer world, while her mother may seem perfect, she is far from it, as when her husband is out cheating on her with another woman, she drinks away her sorrows. Cry Baby then notices that the girl is coming back upstairs, and warns the other dolls to go back into the places they were in before. They do, and as the girl approaches, Cry Baby stands up. The girl smiles at her, but then Cry Baby tells the girl that her family isn't as perfect as they let on, and she turns the girl into a doll. The rest of the family begins to corner the girl, and as they approach her the girl is turned back into a human. She runs away, and the dollhouse wall closes.

Track listing

Digital download
No.TitleLength
1."Dollhouse"3:51
Total length:3:51
Dollhouse Remixes – EP
No.TitleLength
1."Dollhouse" (Kiely Rich Remix)6:20
2."Dollhouse" (One Love Remix)4:27
3."Dollhouse" (Jai Wolf Remix)4:08
4."Dollhouse" (Treasure Fingers H.O.U.S.E Remix)4:46
Total length:19:41

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[5] Platinum 80,000‡
Poland (ZPAV)[6] Gold 25,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[7] Silver 200,000‡
United States (RIAA)[8] 2× Platinum 2,000,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Region Date Format(s) Label Ref.
United States February 10, 2014 Digital download Self-released
Canada July 24, 2014 Remixes EP Atlantic Records
United States

References

  1. ↑ "Pretty Little Liars - "Welcome to the Dollhouse" Teaser (5x25)". YouTube. March 21, 2015. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
  2. ↑ Wass, Mike (July 30, 2015). "Melanie Martinez Delivers A Twisted Sequel To "Dollhouse": Catch Up With The Family From Hell In "Sippy Cup"". Idolator. SpinMedia. Retrieved December 29, 2016.
  3. ↑ Boise, Danielle (June 2, 2014). "Interview with Melanie Martinez on 'Dollhouse' EP and Life out on the Road". Target Audience Magazine. Retrieved December 29, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Melanie Martinez - Dollhouse (Official Music Video)". YouTube. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  5. ↑ "Canadian single certifications – Melanie Martinez – Dollhouse". Music Canada. Retrieved July 26, 2019.
  6. ↑ "Wyróżnienia – Złote płyty CD - Archiwum - Przyznane w 2022 roku" (in Polish). Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved December 21, 2022.
  7. ↑ "British single certifications – Melanie Martinez – Dollhouse". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
  8. ↑ "American single certifications – Melanie Martinez – Dollhouse". Recording Industry Association of America. February 28, 2020. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
  9. ↑ "iTunes - Music - Dollhouse - Single by Melanie Martinez". iTunes Store. Archived from the original on 20 February 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
  10. ↑ "Dollhouse (The Remixes) - EP by Melanie Martinez". iTunes Store (CA). Apple Inc. 24 July 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  11. ↑ "Dollhouse (The Remixes) - EP by Melanie Martinez". iTunes Store (US). Apple Inc. 24 July 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
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