“Cry Baby” is about people, including Melanie Martinez, who are extremely sensitive and tend to be upset easily, consequently ending in tears. It is the opening song and title track for Melanie’s debut album, setting the tone and childlike ideology for the record.

I am Cry Baby. It’s very hard to separate myself from the character. It’s still something that I’m trying to figure out. I knew that I wanted the album to be called Cry Baby for the longest time and my main reason for it was because I was teased as a kid for being super emotional and I took things way too seriously.
- Melanie Martinez, VICE

Cry Baby is a character whom Melanie described as “a child who experiences adult things.” However, there are some things in Cry Baby’s story that Melanie did not experience herself.

The story and illustration for this song appears on the 3rd page of the Cry Baby storybook, reading:

Saddest girl she has to be
Salty tears stream down her cheek
Her heart’s bigger than her body
Her name is cry baby